SLAVERY 



UNMASKED 



By PHILO TOWER. 




KOCIIKSTEK, N. Y. : 

E. DARROW & CO.. PUBLISHERS. 

—1802.— 



SLAVERY UNMASKED: 

BEING A ^^^ 

TRUTHFUL NARRATIVE ^^'^ 



OF A 



THREE YEARS' RESIDENCE AND JOURNEYING IN 
ELEVEN SOUTHERN STATES: 



TO WniCII IS ADDED 



THE INVASION OF KANSAS, 



INCLUDING THE 



LAST CHAPTER OF HER WRONGS. 

i 

BY KEV. PHILO TOWER. 



FIAT .lUSTITIA UJ/AT (;^CELyJH..^ ...... .^ 



ROCHESTER : 

PUBMSIIED BY E. DARROW A BROTnEU, C5 MAIN AND 2 ST. PACL STS. 
1850. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, 

By E. DARROW & BROTHER, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Northern District of New York. 



DAILY ".AlJtfoa'lSKk.Ci'SEiiS, 

KOCUESTKR, S. V. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

The author starts for the South — Arrival at New York —Starting 
Expedition — Went to the Park — Down Broadway — Barnum'a 
Museum — To the Methodist Book Room — Takes the cars tor 
Washington — Pauses at Philadelphia for dinner — Starts again 
at three — Baltimore — Arrival at Washington — Stopped at 
the National — Midnight Promenade — Senator Walbridgc — 
Went to the While House — Introduction to President Fill- 
more — National Gallery — Franklin's Press — Smithsonian In- 
stitute — Capitol Hill — Senate Hall — Tour through the build- 
ings — Pictures on the Wall — View from roof of Capitol — 
Population of Washington — General aspect of the City — Pub- 
lic Buildings — Public Squares — Slavery — Solomon Northrup 

— Emonson Family — Tragic Scene — Start for Richmond. 

CHAPTER 11. 

Richmond — Its locality, institutions and business aspects — Situation 
of the city — Its streets — The Capitol — City Hall — Monumen- 
tal Church — Water-power — Articles of produce — Slave mart 

— Slave breeders — Rice grounds — Slave girl flogged into 
criminal intercourse with her master — Premium oft'ered by a 
master to white men for improving the stock of his slaves, &c. — 
Internal slave trade — Profits thence accruing — Isaac Williams' 
thrilling narrative — Dullness of Richmond — Start for Wil- 
mington, N. C. — Pass large plantations — Scenes appear anti- 
progressive — North Carolina forests — Arrival at Wilmington. 

CHAPTER III. 

Wilmington — Its site, locality and institutions — appearance from 
a distance — Its population, commerce, hotels, churches — Sab- 



IV CONTENTS. 

baths here — Went to M. E. Church South — Sacraments — No 
colored pastors here — Number of colored communicants — 
Sabbath desecration — Inhumanity of slave holders — Frightened 
fugitive — Hounds upon his track — They tree him — Hounds 
taught to regard the slave as his natural enemy — Puppies taught 
to hunt slaves — Torture of young Harry — Negro in the creek 

— Dogs attack him — Drowned himself — Thrilling narrative of 
John Little. 

CHAPTER IV. 

Charleston — Its locality, institutions of blood, groans, &c. — Arrival 
at Charleston — Promenade through the market — Large com- 
mercial city — Fort Moultrie — Nullificrs — South Carolina Arse- 
nal—Early history of Charleston — Shade trees — Dwellings — 
Churches — Hotels — scarcity of southern Artists — Classes of 
society — Poor whites — Dined with a slaveholder — Slaves let 
out — Municipal regulations — Slave mother's babe sold from 
lier — Slave with an iron collar on — Lower law inquisition — 
Beautiful Quadroon tortured by the inquisitors — Old Austrian 
Haynau outdone — Torture of a captured fugitive — Murder of 
poor Pompey — Black Jed in the stocks — City gossip — Slave 
Auction — Boarding with an ex-clergyman — Lady inquisitor — 
Slaves chief wealth of the south -— Dialogue with the slave of a 
clergyman — No St. Clair's or little Eva's — Imaginary life of 
the southerner — The martyred slave — Item of black code - 
Improved inquisitorial tortue — human head stuck upon a pole 

— The Charlestonians. 

CHAPTER V. 

Columbia — Its situation, institutions, &c. — Start for Columbia — 
Country through which we passed — Carolina swamps — Colum- 
bia a fine appearing town — The state house — Hotels — Sell 
men and women here — No prospect of escape for the poor 
slave — Torture of a poor slave woman in the public streets — 
Ramble to the wooden bridge — Brick yard — Southern hatred 
of Abolitionists — Negro fishing — Dialogue with old fisherman — 
Master came up — Dialogue with a .slave mother — Incredulity 



CONTENTS.' V 

of the old woman — Rotuin to Charloston — Start for Savan- 
nah, fieorgia — Pa'^'^ago — Rice Holds on Savannah river — 
Southerncrd read ruele Tom's Cabin. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Savannah — Its history, locality, institutions, &c. — Situation of Sa- 
vannah — Its streets and parks — Pulaski House — Old Fort or 
battle ground — The \yriter's reflections on this field — Anglo 
Hessian descendants — Soldier in the Mexican war — Visited 
the garrison with him — Georgia colony and slavery — Wesley 
and Whiteficld — Patriotic Georgians — Cruel torture of a slave 
woman — Public whipping of a young mulatto man — Slavery 
and its apologists — Slaves treated worse here than dumb brutes 

— Food of slaves in Georgia — Plantation side view of slavery 

— Slave huts — Exposure to the beating storms — Wearing 
apparel — Master in the midst of his slaves with pistol in one 
hand and long knife in the other — Unmerciful flogging of a 
slave — Manner of whipping slaves — Sometimes die under 
the lash — Negro sermon — Cathauling — Negro shot down — 
Afiico-.Vmerican race springing up here — Plantation life con- 
tinued — Jesuits of slavery willing northern apologists — beast- 
ly, barbarous conduct towards a slave woman — Man tied to a 
tree and received three hundred lashes — Poor Ike flogged 
almost to deith — Bu-iness aspects of Savannah — Slaves have 
no beds — John and the northerner — Col. H.'s plantation — 
Blood and murder — Murder of Cuffee — Slave burning — 
Return north — Storm at sea — Saw a whale — Arrival at New 
York — Take the car.s for Cincinnati — Arrival there. 

CHAPTER VII. 

Cincinnati — Its progress, locality, Fugitive Slave Scenes, &c. kc. — 
A chapter on Cin.-innati called for — Undergroun 1 railroads 
here — Liberty and slavery meet in open combat — Cincinnati 
the great metropolis of the west — Its situation — Its streets — 
Its Levee — Its public buildings — Cincinnati College — Mer- 
cantile Library — Melodeon Hall — Masonic Hall — Burnet 
House — The Cincinnati Observatory — Great Equatorial Tele- 



VI CONTENTS. 

scope — Churches — Institutions — Western Methodist Book 
Room — Commerce — Trade of the city — Manufactures — 
Population — Underground railroad — Stock increasing — The 
writers stand here — Underground railroad company — kind- 
ness of Friend Obadiah, the superintendent — conversation with 
the fugitives — Rev. Mrs. H. one of the conductors — Her es- 
cape from the blood-hounds of Kentucky — Rebecca, Obadiah's 
companion — Colored orphan asylum — Slave hunters all round 

— Black Robert begging for the freedom of his wife — Missis" 
sippi slave woman — IIow she escaped — Introduction to the 
fugitives — Dialogue with them — Arrest of five fugitives and 
murder of a child — The inquest on the child — The object of 
the habicas corpus — The slave mother Margaret — The slave 
mother Margaret taken down south again — Slave case — curi- 
ous developments — The mail boat for Louisville — Arrival 
there. 

CHAPTEE VIII. 

Louisville — Its position, locality, and institutions — Landing scene 

— Finding a boarding house — Louisville a large city — Has a 
great business aspect — Many eastern men here — Cassius M. 
Clay among the Kentuckians — Slavery here — Negro droviers 

— Rev. Mr. King — An apostate minister — Colored church — 
Heard a negro sermon — Dialogue with l)lack Sam — Cassius M. 
Clay's opinion of slavery — Kentucky chivalry — U. S. Austrio- 
American despotism. 

CHAPTER IX. 

Passage to New Orleans — The Ohio — New Albany — Salt River — 
First evening in the saloon — Slavery on one side and freedom 
on the other — Get upon the shoals — Religious tracts — Had 
sacred music on Sundays — Cairo and the Mississippi — South- 
erners aboard — Northerner going to Texas — Presbyterian 
merchant of Alabama — New Yorker — Fugitive in irons — 
Memphis — Fugitive sold here on the auction block — Casper 
Ilauser — Chickasaw bluffs — Slave camp — Arkansas — Man 
drowned — Vicksburg — Slave church — Gamblers hung — 



CONTENTS. Vll 

Grand Gulf — Irishman drowned — Natchez — Red River — 
Baton Rouge — Bayou Placqucminc — Bayou La Fouchic — 
Donaldsonville — Broad Mississippi — Pass a large ship — Car- 
rollton — First sight of rotunda of the St. Cliarlcs — A forest of 
masts — A forest of smoke pipes — Enter New Orleans. 

CHAPTER X. 

New Orleans — Its mixed masses — The Levee — Its i)anor;iinie 
scenes — Situation of the city — Its length — Levee embank- 
ment — Old streets — Public Squares — Old city proper — 
'Three municipalities — Its boat navigation — Its commerce — 
Public building.s — Dc Soto — Character of New Orleans a cen- 
tury ago — Its character now — Algiers — Marine IIos[iital — 
Yellow Fever — Cypress Grove Cemetery — Marks of the de- 
stroyer — Population — New Orleans under the Spaniards — 
* Louisiana sold to the United States — Sources of disease — 
- Reign of Terror — Black Bob sent off to starve — Slave auction 

— Harry Hill — Murder of stubborn Bill — Follow the gang to 
their quarters — Enter the large room — Sir Hyena — The 
young Quadroon — Sale of Jack to a clergyman — Parting 
scene between Jack and his wife — Anniversary of battle — 
Battle Field — Mysteries of New Orleans — Southern amalgama- 
tion — Slave girls as bed companions — A father hires a white 
young man to marry his quadroon daughter — Man sold his 
whole family — Free colored people — Intelligent colored ladies 

— Fandango ball — Seven slaves hung — Old man chained — 
on his knees — Woman whipped to death — Bob killed by his 
master — Miss Julia K., of Kentucky — Woman whipped to 
death at the stake gave birth to child at same time — Chain 
gang of women — Pious slaveholding ladies — Woman whipping 

— Slave marriage — iron collar — Break down wliipping — 
Slave barracoons — Quadroons bought for bed companions — 
Houses of assignation — Low brothels — Kept mistcesses. 

CHAPTER XI. 

Poor whites — Number of slaveholders — De Bow — Maryland, 
Virginia and the District of Columbia — Non-slaveholding whites 



VUl CONTENTS. 

— How regarded south — M. Traver — Distressing picture — 
White labor — Mr. Tavlor's views — Wm. Gregg, Esq. — White 
population of South Carolina — Gov. Hammond — No manufac- 
turies South — Low wages South — Richmond Dispatch — Ignor- 
ance of Southern whites — Southern Agriculture rude and shift- 
less — Poor whites are hunters — Mr. Montgomery on Cotton — 
Emigrants from slave to free states — White population of free 
states double to that of slave states — Extension of area of slav- 
ery no benetit to the slaves. 

CHAPTEH XII. 

The effects of slavery on labor — Free labor vs. slave labor — Cen- 
sus of 1850 — Slavery stagnates progress — Contrast — Penn- 
sylvania and Virginia — Ohio and Kentucky — De Bow's com- 
pendium — Slavery retards natural increase of population — 
Depreciates value of land — Wastes the resources of a comftm- 
nity — In fifty years Virginia sunk four degrees — Ohio accu- 
mulates wealth — Kentucky remains poor — Nine northern 
states have a total area of only 134,556 square miles — Ten 
southern states an area 427,9*79. 

CHAPTER Xni. 

Southern morality and ruffianism — Blood, blood, blood — Fearful 
revelations, &c. — Burning of a human being — Negro burn^ 
ed to death — An editor killed — Duel fought — Shooting of 
Rees Murry — Father shot his daughter — Murder of Frank 
Hyatt — P. C. Buthell stabbed — Bowie knife fight — Mr. Har- 
ris butchered — A son cut his father's head open with an axe — ■ 
Brother murdered his sister — Wife stabbed — Five slaves hung 

— Duel in Korth Carolina — Lynch law — Brutal Murder — T. 
Jones killed by his own son — Atrocious Murder — Negro 
woman killed by her son-in-law — Double murder — A Monster 

— Bloody deed — Duel fought by two boys — John Casena killed 
by his wife — Bloody fight vs. southern chivalry — Murder and 
negro hanging — Man and wife murdered by a slave — Horrible 
tragedy — Murder of an overseer — Burning of a Negro — 
Slave whipped to death — Slave girl murdered by her mistress 



CONTENTS. IX 

Lyiuh livw in Virginia — Desperate afTiay — Munli'iin Mem- 

plus — Fatal affair — Negro figiit — Suicide of a nlave niotlicr 
and her two children — llrutalily of a slave girl — A planter 
killed by his negro overseer — Horrid Affair in Missouri — F. 
Deuibriski shot — Negro killed by an Overseer — Negress mur- 
dered her Master — Duellist — Blood and ruffinij^ni in New 
Orleans. 

CIIArTER XIV. 

Slavery and the Sabbath — Southern Sabbath desecration — Shock- 
ing to a New Englander — Sabbath in Charleston — Sabbath a 
holiday — Sabbath in New Orleans — Horse racing on Sunday 

— Theatres open - Authorities sanction it — Wasliington So- 
ciety Ball — Masked Balls — Grand Balloon Ascension — Pon- 
ehartraiu ball room for white persons Sunday and tiuadroons 
Mondays, &c. — Assemblage of lewd women — Prostitutes 
masked — Women admitted free — Masked wives and husbands 
Bull Fight — Bull fight described — Appearance in the ring 

— Consumptive gamester died in a cock pit — Sabbath work- 
ing — Public Market. 

CHAPTER XV. 

Slavery and Religion — Physical cruelties of slavery — Social evils 

— Religious instructions of slaves — Number of slaves owned 
by clergy — Valu;ition of this cleric d human ttock — Pagan Rome 
outdone — Object of slave culture — Extent of slave culture 

— Slave privileges a mockery — Slave piety vs. auction block 

— Slave Mi-ssionary — Southern ecclessiastical report — Slave- 
holders piety — Preaching to slaves — Rev. Albert Barns — 
Looseness of Slave holding churches — Intemperance .^outh — 
Slave communion at S;ivannah — Slave religion — Butler's Is- 
land — Baptizing slaves — Dr. Nelson — Synod of South Caro- 
lina — Some slaves really pious. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Spirit of slavery — Its influence upon the slave holders — Influ- 
ence of institutions upon the people — Slavery a state of war 
1* 



X CONTENTS. 

— Type of southern manners — Southern politeness the polished 
covering of slavery — Aristocratic bearing of slaveholders — 
Cross his path and he is a tiger — Bully Brooks — rich southerners 
never hung — Southerners almost universally carry arms — Often 
shoot each other — Dr. Graham — Improvidence of southerners 

— Southern profusion vs. generosity — Southern penuriousness 

— Southerners anti-progressive — Southern idleness — Slave- 
holders lack energy — Slavery despots — Southerners ignorant 

— Southern hospitality hollow hearted — Southern gambling — 
Drunkenness — Colored gamblers — Party politics. 

CHAPTER XVn. 

Southern tourists versus slavery Apologists — Free states knowledge 
of slavery through northern tourists — Of whom are three 
classes — First, invalids — Second, pleasure takers — Third, 

Agents, Artists, &c. — Mr. H , — The writer's talk with Mr. 

II , after his return North — Clerical apologists for slavery 

— His pay for it — His relation to author of South side view of 
slavery — Soatliera hospitality a chain-gang plea — Fallacy of 
such pleas — John the Baptist — Alexander the tyrant — Chief 
Justice Henderson — N. P. Rogers — Stage driver — George 
Thompson — Judge Durells — Apologists of slavery would'nt 
be a slave — Epps, Lagrce k Co., — Slaves have feelings and 
affections like other men. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Slavery in Free States — Ecclesiastical and political slavery — Great 
Outrage — The letter of a clergyman respecting himself — Rev. 
T. B. McCormick — A native Kentuckian minister of a Cum- 
berland Presbyterian church — Thomas Brown — Indignation 
meeting — $500 Bribe to an Indiana Sheriff — Under-ground 
railroad business a grave offence — Unchurched a minister for 
engaging in it — Gov. Powell of Kentucky — Said Rev. Mc- 
Cormick not only expelled from the church, but driven out of his 
state by the slave power — Quaker bottom Virginians cross over 
into Ohio and break up an an anti-slavery meeting — Clubs and 
axes used — Several quiet people wounded. 



CONTENTS. XI 

ClIAPTEU XIX. 

Kansas, its invasion — The last chapter ot her wronj^s — Missouri 
ruflians — Law and order men — Depredations by tiic law and 
order ruffians — Twelve pound Howitzer — Shrcwdne.ss of Mr. 
BufVum — Free state ladies of Lawrence, patriotism of seventy- 
six — Ladies carrying powder into Lawrence — Gen. Robinson's 
laconic reply to a siiniiuons to surrender — Take them by instal- 
ments — Murder of Mr. Harber — Franklin — Marshal Jones — 
70U men in camp — Disarming strangers — Northern editor dis- 
armed — Sent into a Ruffian camp — Gov. Shannon — Western 
Missourian fire — Abolitionists — Blue bellied Yankee — (Jen. 
Pomeroy attacked — Dialogue with the ruffians — Judge John- 
son lynched — Odd Fellowship — Rev. Gentleman goes to Kan- 
pas — Mobbed and sent down the Mississippi on a raft — Re- 
turn to Kansas — Mobbed by South Carolinians — Gen. Tut — 
Tarred and Feathered — Sacking of Lawrence — Franklin in 
danger — The Cox hoax — Beginning of the end — Jefferson 
on the bench — Anarchy and Revolution — Henry Ward Beech- 
er's rifles — 5:150,001 • plundered and destroyed at Lawrence — 
Arrest of G. W. Brown — Dr. Cutler — Mrs. Brown and Mrs. 
Jenkins — Jeffrey's Leconipte — Old revolutionary spirit yet 
alive — Beecher's bibles — Record of Kansas ruffianism — Illegal 
voters — Printing offices destroyed — Murders — Unlawful ar 
rests — Pretended laws — Incidents of the glorious victory — 
Letter from a grand Juror — No excuse for destroying Law- 
rence — Rapes — Stringfellow in a store — Horses stolen — 
Red Flag of the pirates — Mr. Chapin — Appeal of Mr. Brown 

Murder and Robberies — The exodus stopped — United 

States troops at Topeka — Pro-slavery men ordered to leave the 
territory — Volunteers for Kansas. 



AUTIIOirS PREFACE. 



The author is a clergyman of one of the Evangeli- 
cal Northern Churches. Being somewhat disabled by 
twenty years' pulpit labor, he sought the southern 
climate in which to recuperate his wasted energies. 
To accomplish wliich he engaged in several light 
agencies leading him tlirough portions of eleven slave 
states, keeping him south nearly three years. 

Unlike his brother tourist, author of South Side 
" View of Slavery," he was a colonizationist, and 
occupied strong pro-slavery grounds previous to his 
southern tour. Indeed, to that degree did he carry 
his pro-slavery sentiments, that many worthy members 
of his cliiirch were deeply grieved in consequence 
thereof, while others for the same reason declared him 
unworthy to preach the gospel. 

Entertaining these opinions, he started south, and 
publicly proclaimed them immediately on arriving at 
Charleston, S. C. He had not been long there, how- 
ever, before his convictions on the sul^ject became 
greatly modified, by matter of fact occurrences which 
Life ix the South forced upon his observations. 



XIV PREFACE. 



Having been solicited by a northern editor to become 
a weekly contributor to his paper, he complied, and 
wrote some sixty numbers, which appeared in his 
columns under the caption of "Southern Corres- 
pondenle" and over the signature of " Argus." 

On arriving north from New Orleans, through the 
advice of several clerical friends, the author was in- 
duced to throw the whole into book form and give it 
to the public. In accompUshing this design, the num- 
bers constituting said correspondence have been re- 
duced to chapters with an addition of eight new ones, 
all carefully revised, thus embracing nearly twice the 
amount of reading matter contained in the original 
numbers. A few selections have been made from the 
North Slde View of Slavery, Inside View of 
Slavery, from the Slave Code, &c., so that out of 
the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may 
be established. 

The autlior would beg to assure all those who may 
honor his book with a perusal, that they shall not have 
been indulging in fictions ; but in facts, in realities, in 
history, written out in hlood and stereotyped with tears 
and groans. 

Those of his southern friends into whose hands it 
may chance to fall, he would assure that he takes 
pleasure in acknowledging their kind attentions to him 



PHKFACE. XV 

while in their midst, and i'ui-thcrmore, that no personal 
animosity or ill treatment from any person or persons 
in the slave-liolding states has innuoiiced his [x-n in 
the least. 

AVeiv ihe plan of this woi-k to allow it, many tliiiij^s 
might be said in favor of soutluM-ncrs and llu; south, 
whicli in these pages would aji[)oar ill-timMl and out 
of place. This ground being occupied by South Side 
Viewers and Northern Apologists^ it is not deemed 
meet that any intrusion should be made upon it. 

And finally, in as much as the author lays no special 
claim to literary merit, lie would request his readers 
to be indulgent in their criticisms, and also to malce al- 
lowance for the circumstances of time, })lace, and ill 
health of the author while bringing out the work ; all 
of whicli presented obstacles to be overcome the reader 
knows not of. 



INTUODUCTION. 



The ability of nations for self-government, we need 
scarcely state, is one of the great questions of the nine- 
teenth century. The frequent and stormy discussions 
of this subject are })roni|)tcd by events which Ibllow 
each other in such rapid and awful succession as to 
resemble the tragic scenes of some conqtlicated drama. 
In looking at the old world, we find governments 
which had subsisted undisturbed through long, long 
centuries of despotism, now fallen into a state of de- 
crepitude; and in some instances, their foundations 
have been desti'oyed by convulsions, requiring but a 
single hour comparatively to effect their overthrow. 

Circumstances of such a character are fearfully omi- 
nous to statesmen of the school of Montesquieu, Guizot, 
and Mettcrnich who have elaborated upon the philoso- 
phy of !^[onarchy, Ecpublics, and Revolutions, who 
sagely maintain that rcjiublican institutions are only 
adapted to ])Oor and thinly inhaljited countries, and 
that, as the United States of America become rich and 
po})ulous, democracy will die out and be superceded 
by aristocracy and monarchy. To this, it is only ne- 
cessary to remark, that the States of Massachusetts, 
Connecticut, and Rhode Island, portions of the Union 
the wealthiest and most thickly ])0})ulated, — portions 
compared with which few districts of Euro])e stand 



18 INTRODUCTION. 

very greatly ahead, are, at tlie same time, tlie most 
tlioroughly democratic ; having grown so just in pro- 
portion as wealth has increased, and population multi- 
plied — a phenomenon by no means peculiar to themj 
but one of which the operation may be traced in all 
the free States of the American Union. 

To this fair prospect, however, every freeman is 
forced to admit a painful drawback, viz : the unfortu- 
nate introduction of African Slavery. At first a 
mere excrescence upon the original plan, it has grown 
in several of the Southern States, both new and old, 
until it has become the most marked feature and pre- 
dominating influence in their social system ; intro- 
ducing into that portion of the American Union, and 
indeed into the administration of the national govern- 
ment, a strange and most incongruous mixture of the 
republican system of equal rights, backed by the meta- 
physical theory of the natural equality of man, with 
the miserable spirit of caste and hereditary aristocracy 
of birth and race — a state of society engendering all 
that spirit of contempt for manual labor ; all that spirit 
of phinder and domineering insolence and cruelty 
which distinguished the haughty republics of anti- 
quity, without their taste, eloquence, and artistical 
and warlike renown ; and at the same time all the 
huckstering trickery, sharpness and meanness of mod- 
ern municipal system, without its equality, industry, 
wealth and comfort. Nor can any man yet tell what, 
as to the entire American Union, the result is to be of 
this most discordant and incongruous mixture. 

The following fact is well known by every histori- 



INTltODUCTION. 19 

cal student, viz; that in all nations in which rc])iibli- 
can government has either not been tried, or has ulti- 
mately been overthrown, there has been some vigor- 
ous organization of the privileged part which has 
proved too strong for the liberty of the whole. Our 
ancestors, who drew up the Federal Constitution, were 
not only great and wise men, but also well read in 
political history, and when they inquired for the an- 
tagonists to freedom against which it would be prudent 
to erect safe-guards, they found two to be largely 
treated of in the books, viz : an order of priesthood, 
and an order of hereditary nobles. Thus instructed, 
they took good care to provide that no title of " nobil- 
ity shall be granted by the United States," [Constitu- 
tion, Art. 1, § 9,] and that Congress "shall make no law 
respecting an establishment of religion," [Amendments, 
Art. I.] Unfortunately for us, however, history gave 
them no warning in respect to the subversion of free 
institutions by an aristocracy constituted and organ- 
ized on the basis of ownership of slaves. Such a revo- 
lution was without precedent, and against it accord- 
ingly they failed to set up any express constitutional 
defence. As a result, we are now, to say the least, in 
the last stage of a vigorous attempt at a revolution of 
that kind. 

1'hc slave-holding oligarchy of these United States, 
consisting according to the late census of but three hun- 
dred thousand in a population of twenty-five millions, 
(while others on apparently good grounds, believe them 
to amount to not more than one-third that number,) is 
aiming to confirm and consolidate beyond recall, that 



20 INTRODUCTION. 

control over the government of the coantry, which, 
from an early jjenod, has been passing more and more 
rapidly into its hands. Hence the Reign of Terror 
now desecrating with blood the virgin soil of Kansas, 
and the rattle of cliains amid the strongholds of free- 
dom at the north, as the captured fugitive is forced 
back into perpetual bondage by the minions of this 
despicable oligarchy. Hence the cruel infanticide by 
fugitive slave mothers in northern cities, and the im- 
prisonment of northern freemen by south-side northern 
judges in northern prisons. There is a tremendous 
issue to be met in this country between the descendants 
of its revolutionary sires, between the north and the 
south, in short between republicanism and despotism ; 
and the nations of the world arc interested specta- 
tors of the approaching contest. The struggle has 
already commenced, the combatants are in the field, 
and it is in vain we at the north cry out that the con- 
test is unseasonable and premature. Ailmit that over 
zealous and fanatical haste may have precipittited a 
struggle which we would gladly have deferred, and, 
slumbering out our own time in cpiiet, have thrust upon 
the days of our children. No matter. There is no 
blocking the wheels of destiny in this thing ; we can- 
not have our way. The trumpet has sounded, and 
opposing forces are wheeling into position on the gory 
field. "We may cry peace, peace, but there is no 
peace," Fight we must, upon one side or the other. 
As above remarked, the contest is already begun, and 
will soon become general. 

In such a struggle it is clearly seen there can be no 



INTRODUCTION, 21 

neutrality, and it is time to be choosin*!,- hhcLm- what 
l)anner we will marshal ourselves: whether the ensign 
of ireedom, or the dai-k flag of slavery, drenched in 
the blood of murdered bondmen. Re|)ublicanipm, 
d(Mnoeraey, freedom, &e., are meaning terms in the; 
North, ])erfeetly familiar to all classes; all have a cor- 
rect knowledge of tlicir import, or suppose they have. 
But despotism, southern despotism, or the despotism 
of the slave states, is a thing known at the North 
only by name, and in general. Few have seen it and 
gazed u})on it, face to face, in its own blood-stained 
land of tears and groans; fewer still liave studied it; 
Avhile the great mass are totally- ignorant of its real 
debasing character. 

But what is southern despotism, or American sla- 
very, this curse and incubus of our common country, 
this stench in the nostrils of Christendom, and by-word 
of reproach among the heathen? 

Southern slavery can, probably, be best defined by 
its own statute book. At least, we shall attempt to 
show it up in this light first, and then illustrate by our 
personal observations made in eleven slave states. 
Slaveholders cannot, surely, complain of this mode of 
treating it — cannot complain that the system should 
be taken to be the very thing which the law of the 
slaveholding states have declared it to be, laws framed 
by themselves for the very purpose of defending and 
protecting their elainis. No laws were ever framed 
by any people for the sole purpose of restraining spe- 
cific and enumerated 'crimes, unless the instances of 
such crimes had become aggravated and general 



22 INTRODUCTION. 

among them. The laws of the slave states, therefore, 
which fix the condition of slavery, for the most part 
describe that condition. And even the laws made to 
restrain its cruelties, bear testimony to their existence. 
For an illustration, under the item last mentioned : 
When the laws of South Carolina gravely forbid the 
masters, under a petty pecuniary penalty, to " cut out 
the tongues, put out the eyes, or cruelly scald, burn 
or deprive any slave of any limb, or murder," and 
when they specify other enormities too gross for the 
public eye, they proclaim to the world the fact that 
such cruel practices did prevail to an extent demand- 
ing legislation, at least. 

And again, under the former item : When the same 
statute permits the master to inflict punishment on the 
slave "by whipping or beating with a horse whip, 
cow skin, switch, or putting irons on, or imprisoning," 
(fee, the legislature at once defines and describes the 
common condition of slavery in that State. Charac- 
teristics of the system thus obtained, are to be reckoned 
not among its incidents and abuses, but among its es- 
sential and distinctive features — ^the things wherein it 
essentially consists. With these remarks, and with 
the Statute Books before us, we will answer the ques- 
tion, " What is American Slavery ?" By their own 
showing, by laws enacted in slave states for the regu- 
lation of their human property. 

"Goods they are, and goods they are esteemed, says 
the civil law." — [Dr. Taylor's Elements, p. 429, Stroud, 
p. 21.] 

"A slave is one who is in the power of his master, 



INTRODUCTION. 23 

to wlioin lie belongs." — [Code of La., Art. 85, Stroud, 
p. 22.] 

" The cardinal princii)lc of slavery, that the slave 
is not to be ranked among sentient beings, but among 
things, as an article of property, a chattels personal, 
obtains as undoubted law in all the American slave 
states."— [Stroud, p. 22.] 

Again: "Slaves shall be deemed, sold,, taken and 
reputed to be chattels personal, in the hands of their 
owners and possessors, their administrators and assigns, 
to all intents, constructions and purposes u-hatsoever" — 
[Law of South Carolina, vide Stroud.] 

And an act of Maryland, in 1798, respecting the 
settlement of estates, and the division of property, ex- 
pressly enumerates "specific articles, such as slaves, 
working beasts, animals, furniture, books, and other 
personal effiicts." It cannot then be said in extenua- 
tion of the system of slavery, by southern slavehold- 
ers or by their northern apologists, that this feature of 
slavery, (like others we shall proceed to mention,) is a 
mere incident, appendage, or abuse of the system. 
No, it constitutes, as they well know, its very life, its 
very essence and ground work. Hence the animosity 
breathed out by the whole south against those who 
may attempt to raise the vail from their great goddess 
Diana. Every person held as a slave in any of the 
slave-holding states, is held under this precise tenure, 
and no argument of kind treatment, which will weigh 
a straw here, can by any process whatever do away 
i\\Qfact, or wipe out the foul sin contained in it. 
And here we hazard the assertion, that, according 



24 INTRODUCTION. 

to our convictioiivS, our southern slave oligarchy is not 
only the most cruel, most tyrannical, but the greatest 
organized spiritual despotism to be met with on the 
face of the whole earth. And just so long as one hu- 
man being in this country is permitted to be held the 
absolute propert}^ of another, and entirely subject to 
his control, in respect to all his actions and conduct, 
just so long will there be not only a reign of terror, a 
reign of darkness, l)ut also a reign of heathenism de- 
grading even to barbarians in the rudest and darkest 
stages of their history. So it is now in various por- 
tions of the slave-holding states of our Federal Union, 
where the poor slave cannot follow his own conscience 
nor the law of God. He is not his own, he is the pro- 
perty of another; the will of his master is his law in 
everything, and that master may be a disciple of Tom 
Paine, or an im])ious, blaspheming, nominal Christian. 
And the law of slavery so understands it. 

" Tliis dominion," says Stroud, " is as unlimited as 
that which is tolei'ated, by any civilized community, 
in respect to brute animals, to quadrupeds, according 
to the very language of the civil law." 

The ignorant Catholics in our midst, and the red 
men of our forests, have the bible given them, and 
whole cargoes of bibles have been sent by the Ameri- 
can Bible Society to the heathen of China, India, and 
other countries. But when did they ever make any 
such appropriation to the three millions of slaves on 
our own soil ? Never. This gigantic spiritual despot- 
ism would not allow it, and the reason is quite obvi- 
ous : they know that no people can long be kept en- 



INTRODUCTION. 25 

tirely subject to the wills of their masters to whom 
they belong, if permitted to understand and obey the 
will of one Supreme Master in Heaven. "Accord- 
ingly, we find early and severe enactments, prohibit- 
ing the instruction of slaves, and ])uiiishing them for 
assembling for divine worship, and for mental instruc- 
tion." — [Vide Stroud, pp. 88-90.] The reason given 
for tlicse enactments has always indicated the incom- 
patibility of such privileges and acquirements with 
the condition of slavery. 

"The allowing of slaves to read," sa3''s the law of 
South Carolina, A. D. 1740, " would 1:)C attended with 
many inconveniences." That is, it is inconsistent with 
slavery. " Mental improvement" and " divine wor- 
ship " are the very things specified in several of these 
prohibitory enactments. It is true, indeed, that a reg- 
ular system of oral religious instruction for the slaves, 
without giving them the Bible, has recently been de- 
vised at the South, some portions of it, at least, which 
is called " catechising." While at the South, it was 
our fortune to attend several large ecclesiastical bodies, 
where some two or three hundred of the southern 
clergy underwent examination of their parochial du- 
ties, ministerial cllnracter, &c. When the cancUdate 
was about to retire from the room, for observations to 
be made upon him, he was particularly asked if he 
had attended to catechising the colored people of his 
charge. 

These catechisms, being drawn up by slaveholding 
divines, arc brought in as powerful auxiliaries in up- 
holding the " institution," in which they are taught 
2 



26 INTRODUCTION. 

that tlie cardinal duty the slaves owe to God is the 
rendering strict and unlimited obedience to their mas- 
ters, &c, Bj the black laws of this despotism, white 
freemen themselves are subjected to fine and impris- 
onment for teaching the colored people to read. In 
the streets of Charleston, S. C, I was threatened with 
hanging to a lamp post if I attempted to teacli the 
slaves anything. In the state of Louisiana, " if a 
white man from a pulpit, box, bench, stage, or any 
other place, or in conversation, shall make use of any 
language, signs, or actions, having a tendency to pro- 
duce discontent among free colored people, or insubor- 
dination among .slaves," (that is, such as may give 
them a hope in the promise of God that they shall be 
free,) "such person or persons shall be punished with 
imprisonment from three to twenty-three years, or 
with DEATH, at the discretion of the court." And fur- 
thermore, by this despotism slaves are not entitled to 
the consideration of matrimony, and therefore, as a 
matter of consequence, have no relief in case of adul- 
tery.— [Dr. Taylor's elements, p. 429, Stroud, 21.] 

Think of that, reader ! the marriage institution can- 
not exist among slaves, and one-sixth of the native 
population of our far-famed republican country. No 
marriage, no education, no liberty, no j)ure gospel ! 
This, dear reader, is American Slavery, an institution, 
not of some far-off" pagan land, but of Christian, re- 
publican America ! 

Again : "If more than seven slaves together are 
found in any road, not accompanied by a white per- 
son, twenty lashes is the penalty ; for letting loose a 



INTltOD UCTION . 2 7 

boat from where it was moored, thirty-nine lashes for 
the first offence, and for the second the offender shall 
lose one car; for keeping or carrying a club, thirty- 
nine lashes ; for having any article for sale, without a 
ticket from his master, ten lashes ; for traveling in 
any other than the most usual and accustomed road, 
when going alone to any place, forty lashes ; for trav- 
eling in the night without a pass, forty lashes." A 
man, for going to visit his wife, children, or brethren, 
on a neighboring plantation, without the permission of 
his master, may be caught on the way, dragged to a 
post, the branding iron heated, and the name of his 
master or the letter 11 branded into his cheek, or on 
his forehead. The laws referred to above may be 
found by consulting Brevard's Digest; Haywood's 
Manual ; Virginia Kevised Code, &c. They treat 
slaves thus, they tell us, on the principle that they 
must punish for light offences in order to prevent the 
commission of larger ones. In the single state of Vir- 
ginia there are seventy-one crimes for which a colored 
man may be put to death, while there are onlj^ three, 
when committed by a white man, which will subject 
him to a similar fate. Slave, and also free colored 
testimony is prohibited in the South. 

In the State of Maryland there is a law to this ef- 
fect ; that if a slave shall strike his master, he may be 
hanged, his head severed from his body, his body 
quartered, and his head and quarters set up in the 
most prominent place in the neighborhood, as a warn- 
ing to all others. 



28 INTRODUCTION. 

If a colored woman, in defence of her own virtue, 
should shield hersell from the brutal attacks of her 
tyrannical master, or make the slightest resistance, she 
may be killed on the spot. No law whatsoever will 
bring the guilty man to justice for the crime. Will 
the loud and oft-repeated affirmations of Christian 
slaveholders that they were never guilty of perpetra- 
ting any of the above specific enormities, make them 
guiltless in the matter ? — ^because they never person- 
ally violated female virtue, never separated a husband 
from his Avife, or never required a woman, when sepa- 
rated from her husband, to live wdtli another man, or 
never held in Christian fellowship, without rebuke, his 
neighboring Christian brethren and sisters, both slaves 
and masters, who submitted to customs, or command- 
ed compliances like these ? Will their singular inno- 
cency in these respects screen them ? Have they ever 
borne consistent testimony against these crying abom- 
inations sm-rounding them ? No, they have not, and 
they know it, and God knows it ; and while they re- 
main slaveholders they cannot, they will not. Why, 
they hold their slaves solely under the tenure of that 
code which renders all this promiscuous concubinage, 
adidtery, &c., inevitably certahi ! Nay, they hold 
them in a condition in which they cannot shield them 
from its pollutions. By a system which breaks up 
the family state, ordained by God, that blots out the 
Seventh Commandment and renders void the law to 
" honor thy father and mother;" a system which trans- 
forms the teeming progeny of its \dctims into the mere 



INTRODUCTION, 29 

*' goods mid cliattols" of their own sires, wlio ])rced 
thcin shamelessly for sale, then tear them rutldessly 
from their mothers, for a distant market. 

Now we ask the reader just to ghmee over, a second 
time, tlie above detached bloody enactmente of this 
reign of terror, and see what security can be found 
for the poor chattel race. In the first place, we find 
that no slave or free colored person is allowed to give 
evidence in any case where a white person is concern- 
ed. In the second place, the punishment, even in 
cases of murder, is eoimnonly a mere pecuniary fine, 
or temporary punishment. In tlielliird jilace, we find 
laws assuming the possibility that the slave may come 
to his tleatli by moderate correction. In the fourth 
place, we find, as already stated, enactments which 
authorize " whipping or beating Avitli a horsewhip, 
cowskin, switch, or small stick, putting irons on, 
and imprisoning." We also find a vagueness in 
their laws, wdiich prohibit ^'- unmuaV punishments, 
though a ^^moderate''' correction may cause death ! 
In the fifth place, we find laws which forbid any 
slave, or any free person of color, male or female, 
nnder any pretext, to lift a finger against any white 
person, on pain of death, even in defence of life itself, 
or for the prevention of outrages worse than niurder- 
And finally, we see the interference oven of white 
persons held in check by enactments, as before quoted, 
punishing with imprisonment, and even death, at the 
discretion of the court ; for a second offence, any free 
white citizen who " from the box, bench, stage, pulpit, 
or in any other place, or in conversation, shall make use 



30 INTRODUCTION". 

of any language, signs or actions ha%dng a tendency to 
produce discontent among free colored people, or in- 
subordination among the slaves." Who does not see 
that enactments like these must render it both hazard- 
ous and odious for a white man to interfere or make 
himself active in bringing to trial or j ustice the slave 
masters suspected or known to have committed outra- 
ges on the persons of their slaves ? And who does not 
know that such outrages are fearfully common in slave 
states, and that interference and punishment are rare ? 
Such, reader, are a few outlines, merely, of Ameri- 
can slavery, a definition furnished by the framers of 
the monstrous institution. And now, seriously, we 
ask, what can be said in favor of the motive of any 
Christian master in holding a human being under this 
kind of treatment, and under these laws ? What mo- 
tive can there be for such a course, that is not at the 
bottom a selfish and sordid one ? From what quar- 
ter, or in view of what considerations, can a holy mo- 
tive be drawn for holding a human being under such 
laws ? ^ Is it the good of the individual ? Incredible ! 
What ! for the good of a moral being to be held as a 
mere thing ? For his good to live under a code of laws 
which denies his religious rights ; which autliorizcs his 
neighbor to require him to commit sin ; which holds 
his domestic relations at the mercy of another ; which 
enforces his toil without an equivalent, and leaves his 
life without protection ! All this for the sole benefit 
of the slave ! No ; there is not a particle of honest 
truth in any such declarations on the part of Christian 
slaveholders. 



INTKODUCriON. 31 

It has been our fortune to me(;1 and mingle with 
these professedly pious slave-masters nioiv or less dur- 
ing the last three years, at their honi'>s, on their i)lan- 
tations, in their churches, &e. W<> have seen the in- 
stitution as it is — the south-side, the nc^-th-side, the m- 
side, the outside, the religious side and the danniablc 
side of it — and have heard these masters go on with a 
pious, sympathising strain like the following: "We 
are convinced that slavery is not exactly right in every 
particular, and think it might be better for us if the 
slaves were all free ; but we can't free llu-m ; the law 
will not allow us to do so ; and, poor things, if we 
were to do it they could not take care of themselves, 
they would starve." At the same time we knew these 
pretences were all shallow uiid rotten to the core, and 
that they did not desire to free tlioni — could not dis- 
pense with them, or would not, short of their full equi- 
valent in hard coin. They hold them, dear reader, as 
one slaveholder replied once in answer to the interro- 
gation, " Why do you hold men in bondage, sir, pro- 
fessing as you do to be living by the golden rule ?" 
When eVery other argument failed him, or was fully 
rebutted by the interrogator, he said, " / hold slaves 
because I have the power T True, this is the reason, 
and the main reason, and the only one why men hold 
slaves. They have the power not only to hold them 
in the South, but to drag them away from the "North 
after they have been freemen for years, and perpetu- 
ate their bondage forever, 

"But," say northern apologists, backed uj) by legions 
of political dough-faces and " South-Side " reviewers, 



32 INTRODUCTION, 

allies of sovithern slavery, " you wrong tlie Soutli and 
our common country by the revelations you make. 
There is already a terrible excitement on the vexed 
question, and you are making bad worse." Indeed, 
" let us alone " is what they cry ; so prayed the devils 
to Jesus Christ, anciently: "Let us alone! let us 
alone ! what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of 
Nazareth ? Art tliou come to destroy us ?" 

We want to see the darh institution share the fate of 
the swine whom Christ suffered the demons to drown 
in the deep sea. There was a terrible excitement on 
that occasion also, you will recollect,- but neither Christ 
nor the disciples kept silent, or slackened their aboli- 
tion movements. Now look for a moment at the facts 
embodied in the foregoing quotation, and then at an 
illustration made by our own observations on many a 
gory field in the distant South, and tell us honestly, can- 
didly, what creates this terrible excitement ? Who are 
excited? and wherefore? Are persons excited too 
much who testify against robbery, rapine, piracy and 
murder in their worst forms ? nay, against the sum of 
all villanies ? Let the objector " remember thfem that 
are bound, as being bound with them." Let him im- 
agine himself, for only one brief day, in the condition 
described by the American slave code, and we shall 
see whether he will think tliere is too much excite- 
ment against slavery ! Go tlirough with the astound- 
ing metamorphosis. 

In the first place, you are degraded to a mere thing. 
You are no longer accounted human ! Hush ! hush ! 
There will be a terrible excitement if you complain to 



INTRODUCTION. 33 

any human being. You uro next forbidden to obey 
God, and cc^nscicnce, and the bible ! You are to yiekl 
yourself to the absolute control of a single man! But 
don't be excited ! You arc to labor all your life long, 
without compensation ; but beware of excitement I 
Your wife and child no longer yours ! Never heed 
it ; there will be an excitement ! The laws are remo- 
ved which protect you from outrage and violence ! 
But say nothing ; let no man say anything. It will 
create a terrible excitement ! 

Excitement ! yes, excitement ! that is the thing. 
There is an excitement not among those who bear tes- 
timony against the iniquitous institution. No; strange 
to tell, we can look upon these horrible tragical facts 
with comparative composure. The excitement is on 
the other side. The legion in the day of our Lord 
were excited, most tremendously excited, when they 
cried out, " let us alone ! let us alone !" So high did 
the excitement run in their satanic veins, that they 
kidnapped about two thousand hogs, for the want of 
more valuable booty, and drowned them in the sea, in 
their excitement. The excitement is against human 
rights, and liberty, and religion. The excitement 
is among the friends of the oppressor ; and not 
among the friends of the oppressed. Look at Kansas 
Border Rufhans ! 

" The advocacy of freedom begets an excitement 
among tyrants, and therefore the first principles of 
civil and religious liberty must be suppressed ! Is 
such an excitement a sufficient reason for holding our 
peace ? Then were our revolutionary sires at fault. 



34 INTRODUCTION. 

If we think so, we shall most certainly become slaves, 
and almost merit our destiny. 

There is an excitement in the land! And where- 
fore ? Because the hidden abominations of Southern 
Slavery are being more and more fully dragged out into 
daylight! What is the remedy ? Cover up the hor- 
rors of slavery ! The public vision cannot bear them ! 
But they cannot and they never will be covered up ! 
The right arm of Jehovah hath laid them bare. They 
stand revealed before the universe. Nothing can allay 
the excitement but the entire abrogation of the whole 
slave code. Then, and not until then, will there be 
any end to the slavery excitement. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE AUTHOR STAKTS SOUTH. 

On the morning of January 3d, 1853, tlie writer 
took leave of his family circle, and in company with 
two other clerical gentlemen, started for the South, 
Charleston, S. C, being the place of our destination. 
After riding all night in the cars, next day about noon 
we were whirled by the prancing fire-eating horse into 
the centre of the great metropolitan city of the New 
"World, where we were snugly quartered for a day or 
two at one of the principal hotels. Having done am- 
ple justice to ourselves at the dining table, we sallied 
forth into the crowded streets of "Gotham," on a sort 
of staring expedition. 

Went to the Park, down Broadway, into Barnum's 
Museum, and visited many other prominent places of 
public interest ; after which we went up to 200 Mul- 
berry street to see the Methodist Book Boom. 

Having settled our bill at the landlord's office, we 
were soon omnibused down to the depot of the great 
Southern Road — purchased each a through ticket to 
Charleston — saw our baggage checked for Washing- 
ton, and then seated ourselves in one of the cars — a 
puff and a snort, and the next moment we were off at 
the rate of thirty miles an hour. 

Soon Philadelphia was announced, and there we 



36 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

halted long enough to regale ourselves with a good 
dinner ; immediately after we were again under way, 
and at nine in the evening were brought to a dead 
halt in Baltimore, for, having been switched off from 
the right track, our fierj steed leaped unceremoniously 
into a neighboring lumber-yard, causing some destruc- 
tion among the wooden wares, and terribly frightening 
many of the passengers ; but I believe no bones were 
broken. 

Here we changed cars, than which nothing is more 
disagreeable to the tyro-traveller, when the knights of 
the omnibus, like ravenous wolves, are howling 
around the cars, pulling and hauling, and almost de- 
vouring those who are so unfortunate as to fall in 
their way. Finally, after a little sober inquiry, a des- 
perate feat at elbowing, and turning one or two short 
corners, we made our way through the rabble, found 
the sought-for train, stepped aboard, and before mid- 
night were safely landed at Washington. 

WASHINGTON. 

Here we designed to make a short stay for the pur- 
pose of looking at the wonders of our national capitol, 
of seeing the lions of the nation, and, if possible, 
hearing them roar. 

We took omnibus for the " National," where, in a 
few moments, we safely arrived, bag and baggage- 
After registering our names and making arrangements 
for the night, we went out, although the bells had 
tolled the hour of twelve, to get a peep at Washington 



SLAVEEiV I'NMASKED. 37 

before we could sleep. Saw Capitol Hill in the hazy 
distance, with the great council hoiLsc of the nation 
spreading out its huge proportions to the right and 
left, and its gilded dome peering up majestically thro' 
the midnight air. 

Next morning, through the politeness of congress- 
man Walbridge, of Central New York, wc were es- 
corted to the White House, and all had the honor of 
a personal introduction to his highness, President Fill- 
more, with whom we spent a very agreeable half hour 
in the same room where grave senators, illustrious 
statesmen, and foreign ambassadors have been accus- 
tomed to assemble, more or less, for a half century 
past. We were treated b}' this Chief ^[agistrate of a 
mighty people with as much politeness as though we 
had been an embassy extraordinary from some Euro- 
pean court. 

From the Wliite House our illustrious guide con- 
ducted us to the National Gallery, where wc spent 
some two hours in feasting oiu- eyes on rare speci- 
mens of natural curiosities gathered from the four 
quarters of the globe. And here, too, were noble 
models of artistic skill, monuments to the memory of 
those who designed them, carved, moulded, and chis- 
elled out by hands long since turned to dust. At one 
end of the hall we saw a venerable national relic, for 
which every American cherishes a sort of religious ven- 
eration, and at which no intelligent foreigner can look 
without emotion. I allude to the old hand printing press 
used by our great philosopher and statesman, the im- 
mortal Franklin. There it was, placed as a na- 



38 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

tional relic, to be seen by all who may visit these 
halls from the Old World or New. 

It was a small, simple model, but one that has done 
mighty execution in the cause of liberty and human 
progress ; one that has told heavily upon the fate of 
empire, and marked a glowing cycle in the fearful 
drama of human history. 

As we stood by this small rude instrument of moral 
and political power, pensively contemplating its past 
mission, and the sentiments to which it has given 
birth, we were involuntarily carried back some two or 
three generations, to the stormy, stirring age of '76, 
when this formidable old battery was planted in Phil- 
adelphia, in defence of liberty. AVe thouglit of the 
man, of the cause, the foe. In short, whole volumes 
of history, written and unwritten, identified with those 
times, appeared at once to stare us in the face. 

Here, thought we, how many glowing philippics, 
moving harangues, moral essays, and philosophical 
treatises have been rolled off from this old press, which 
are even now contributing not a little towards mould- 
ing the destinies of two hemispheres. Every stroke 
of its beam, thought we, has done more, during the 
last half century for libertj'-, for moral and political 
advancement, than a million of bayonets. It has soar- 
ed through the heavens, grasped the thunderbolt, 
chained the lightnings, and transmitted to posterity 
useful codes of moral and political government which 
the nations begin now to appreciate. 

From the National Gallery we went to the famous 
Smithsonian Institute, passed through its various halls, 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. • 3U 

and admired the grand design. In one apartment 
was exhibited an imposing array of splendid paint- 
ings, works of groat masters, some American, but 
mostly of European execution, we judged. In another 
apartment we found the library ; it was lumbered up 
with an untold mass of reading matter, the production 
of by-gone ages. Here are to be found works on His- 
tory, Theology, Politics, and all the Sciences, and, in 
short, on all the variety of subjects to which the pen 
has given birth, or the imagination play. 

In passing slowly through tliis hall, looking upon 
those musty folios piled up on either side, in front and 
rear, we could not forbear the remark, — " Vast heca- 
tomb of living souls." 

Here are authors that twenty centuries ago were 
unknown to fame, yet twenty centuries ago they lived, 
toiled, wrote, and transmitted to succeeding genera- 
tions an immortality co-existent with the globe itself; 
no monument tells where their dust was committed to 
its last long sleeping-place. 

From the Smithsonian Institute we ascended Capitol 
Hill and entered the great Ilalls of the Nation. Find- 
ing the House in session, we seated ourselves for a 
few minutes in the gallery, but the business being de- 
void of interest, we went into the Senate Hall. The 
Senate, however, not having yet organized, we com- 
menced a tour of discovery through the building, pos- 
sessing ourselves, as soon as possible, of its numerous 
wonders. 

With minds made up for the undertaking, we soon 
set about its execution. First, we paused a few mo- 



40 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

ments on the lower floor of the rotunda and gazed at 
tlie imposing figures sculptured on the Avails, in pano- 
ramic form, as large as life, one of which represented 
the American and French armies drawn up around 
their chiefs, witnessing the surrender of Cornwallis 
and his army at Yorktown. It was more than splen- 
did ; it was a deeply sublime and impressive represen- 
tation of the crowning act of that memorable era in 
our history. 

From this floor we could stand and look away up, 
up, up, and see the blue heavens through the towering 
skylight that roofed the rotunda. 

Next we commenced our ascent toward the roof of 
the main building, and from thence to the highest ac- 
cessible point of the giddy dome. We gained the 
outer roof after going round and round the circular 
stairwa}', something like going up into Trinity steeple, 
in New York. Here we found ladies and gentlemen 
promenading the broad, flat roof of the Capitol. We 
also walked round, from roof to roof ol this huge pile 
of granite masonry, with the delegated authorities of 
the nation beneath our feet. 

Presently we recommenced our ascent to the rotun- 
da, and again we went round, and round, and round, 
until finally reaching the terminus, we made a halt 
because we could go no further in that direction. 
Here we were in a commanding attitude, some hun- 
dred and fifty feet from the base of the building, and 
three luindred from the level of the city. The pros- 
pect from this point was beautiful, enchanting in the 
extreme, and almost boundless. Cities, towns, villa- 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 41 

ges, and plantations were visible in every direction, 
until land appeared lost in skies. The day was bright 
and beautiful as a nortliorn July morning. The mor- 
row is to be a great day in the C\i])ital ; Jaekson's 
monument is then to be reared, and from our stand- 
point we saw companies of soldiers marching in from 
Baltunore to assist on the occasion. 

As we stand on this elevated point of observation, 
facing the city, at our left is the small city of George- 
town, with the Potomac and its harbor, where steamers 
and war vessels are seen. In front, or nearly so, is 
"Washington's monument and the Smithsonian Insti- 
tute ; and a little to the right, on that side of Pennsyl- 
vania Avenue, at the distance of one mile, is the 
White House and Jackson's Monument. 

POPULATION. 

The resident population of Washington in 1850 was 
40.000, but this number is ' greatly increased during 
the sessions of Congress, by the accession not only of 
the members and their families, but of visitors and 
persons spending the winter, or a portion of it hercj 
for the purpose of enjoying the society and gaiety of 
the capital. Though the growth of Washington has 
not been rapid, it has been steady, and the city has 
increased within the past few years, in a considerably 
greater ratio than heretofore. There seems no reason 
to doubt that as the nation grows in prosperity, and 
the public buildings and collections of art and science 
accumulate, (as they are rapidly doing,) very many' 



42 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

persons of wealth and leisure, of literary and scientific 
attainments will seek tliis central point, (agreeable in 
its climate for a winter residence,) to spend their 
Avealth and enjo}^ the advantages of the best society of 
the Eepublic, congregated from all quarters, and hav- 
ing the additional charm of variety and novelty, 

GENERAL ASPECT. 

Though not a seven-hilled city, Washington has, 
as before remarked, like ancient Rome, its Capitoline 
Hill, commanding views scarcely less striking than 
that of the Eternal City, It is situated on the cast 
bank of the Potomac river, between two small tributa- 
ries, the one on the east called the east branch, and 
the one on the west called Eock Creek, The latter 
separates it from Georgetown, The general altitude 
of the city is about forty feet above the river, but this 
is diversified by irregular elevations, which serve to 
give variety and commanding sites for the public 
buildings. 

When the streets shall have been lined with build- 
ings, few cities can ever have presented a grander 
view than that which will be offered to the spectator 
from the western steps of the Capitol, Looking to- 
wards the President's House, with Pennsylvania Ave- 
nue stretching before him, the distance of a mile, with 
a breadth of one hundred and sixty feet, the view ter- 
minates on the west by the colonade of the Treasury 
buildings and the palatial residence of the nation's 
Chief Magistrate, On his left, tOAvards the river, (it- 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 43 

self more than a mile in width,) is an extensive park, 
enclosing the Smithsonian Institute, with its pictur- 
esque towers, and the lofty monument reared to the 
memory of Washington. On the right he will have 
beneath him the General Post Office, the Patent Office, 
the City ITall, and, doubtless, still more splendid pub- 
lic, and many sumptuous ])rivate dwellings, which 
will be erected before another generation shall have 
passed away. 

The plan of the city is unique, and everything is 
laid out on a scale that shows an anticipation of a 
great metropolis ; and though these anticipations have 
not yet been realized, they are entirely within the pro- 
babilities of the future. 

The city plot, which lies on the west border of the 
sixty square miles which now constitute the District of 
Columl)ia, extends four and a half miles in a north- 
west and south-easterly direction, covering an area of 
eleven square miles. A very small portion of this, 
however, is as yet built upon. The whole site is tra- 
versed by streets running east and west, and north 
and south, crossing at right angles. The streets that 
run north and south are numbered east and west from 
North and South Capitol Streets, (whose name will 
indicate its position,) and are called, for example. East 
and West Second or Third streets : while those run- 
ning east and west are numbered from East Capitol 
street, and are named alphabetically, North or South 
A, B, or C street, &c. 

The plot is again subdivided by wide avenues nam- 
ed from the fifteen states existing when the site of the 



44 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

Capitol was chosen. These avenues run in a south- 
east and north-west, or in a south-west and north-east 
direction, often, but not always parallel to each other, 
and their points of section forming large open spaces. 
Four of these avenues and North and South, and East 
and West Capitol streets, intersect each other at the 
Capitol gTOunds, and five avenues and a number of 
streets at the park around the President's house- 
Hence, it will be readily seen, if this plan should be 
filled up, that, combined Avith its undulating grounds, 
surrounding hills, public buildings, park, monuments, 
&c., it will give a coup d'ceil unequalled for magnifi- 
cence in modern times. Pennsylvania Avenue, be- 
tween the Capitol and President's House, is the only 
one that is densely built upon for any considerable 
extent. The streets are from seventy to one himdred 
and ten feet in width, and the avenues from one hun- 
dred and thirty to one hundred and sixty feet. 

PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 

In this respect alone does Washington at present 
fulfil the ideas entertained of a great metropolis. The 
Capitol, President's House, Treasury Buildings, Patent 
Office, and Smithsonian Institute, arc structures that 
would grace any city. First of these, in architectural 
merit and in point of interest, is the capitol, contain- 
ing the halls of the National Legislature, Supreme 
Court Room, &c. This structure consists at present of 
a centre building and two wings, making a total 
length of three hundred and fiftv feet, and one hun- 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 45 

dred and twenty feet depth tit the w ings. The cen- 
tral building is a rotunda, ninety-six feet in diameter, 
and the same in height, erowncd by a magnificent 
dome one hundred and forty -live feet from the ground. 
The wings are also surmounted by flat domes. The 
eastern front, including steps, projects some sixty feet, 
and is adorned with a portico of twenty-two Corinthi- 
an columns, thirty feet in height, and forming a colo- 
nade one hundred and sixty feet in length, presenting 
one of the most commanding fronts in the United 
States. The western front projects eighty-two feet 
including the steps, and is embellished with a recessed 
portico of ten columns. This front, though not so 
imposing in itself as the eastern, conmiands the finest 
view any where to be had in "Washington, overlcrok- 
ing the central and western portion of the city, and all 
the principal public buildings. Near the western en- 
trance to the Capitol stands a monimient erected by 
the officere of the navy to the memorj' of their brother 
officei'S who fell in the war with Tripoli. On the steps 
of the east front of the Capitol, among other worlcs of 
art is a noble statue of Columbus, supporting a globe 
in his outstretched arm. The interior of the western 
projection contains the library of Congress, comprising 
fifty thousand \'olumcs. On entcriug the rotunda, as 
before remarked, the first objects that strike the atten- 
tion are the splendid paintings which adorn the walls. 
Of these, at present seven in number, four are Trum- 
bull's, the subjects of which are, first, the Declaration 
of Independence ; second, the Surrender of General 
Burgoyne ; third, the Surrender of Lord Cornwallis ; 



46 SLAVERY UNMASKED, 

fourtli, General Washino-ton resigninof his commission 
at Annapolis. The subjects of the remaining pictures 
are the Embarkation of the Pilgrims from Lejden, by 
Weir ; the Landing of Columbus, by Yanderlyn, and 
the baptism of Pocahontas, by Chapman. 

Surrounding the rotunda are a number of cham- 
bers, passages, committee rooms, rooms for the Presi- 
dent, members of Cabinet, &c. The Senate Chamber 
is on the second floor of the north wing, of which, 
however, it occupies less than half the area, and is of 
a semi-circular form, seventy -five feet long, and forty- 
five high. A gallery for spectators, supported by iron 
or bronze pillars, surrounds the semi-circle, and front- 
ing the President's chair, which stands in the middle 
of 'the chord of the serni-circlc. In the rear of the 
President's chair is a loggia, under a gallery, supported 
by Ionic columns of conglomerate or Potomac marble. 

In this gallery sit the reporters, in front of the sen- 
ators, while the spectator's gallery is at their backs. 
The Hall of Representatives is on the second floor of 
the south wing, and is also semi-circular, but much 
larger than the Senate Chamber, being some hundred 
feet long, sixty high, and surrounded by twenty-four 
Corinthian columns of Potomac marble, with capitals 
of Italian marble. The galleries are similar in their 
arrangement to those of tlie Senate Chamber. Over 
the Speaker's chair is placed a statue of Liberty, sup- 
ported by an eagle with spread wings. In front of 
the chair, and immediately above the main entrance, 
is a figure representing History recording the events 
of the nation. 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 47 

PUBLIC SQUARES AND PARKS. 

It is said that the open waste lying between the 
Capitol, the President's House, and the Potomac, is 
about to be converted into a great National Park, 
upon a plan proposed by the Uxte A. J. Downing. 
The area contains about one hundred and fifty acres, 
and the principal entrance is to be through a superb 
marble gateway, in the form of a triumphal ai'ch, 
which is to stand at the western side of Pennsylvania 
Avenue. From this gateway a series of carriage 
drives, forty feet wide, crossing the canal by a suspen- 
sion bridge, will lead in gracefully curved lines be- 
neath lofty shade trees, forming a carriage drive be- 
tween five and six miles in circuit. 

The ground will include the Smithsonian Institute 
and Washington Monument. Tlie parks around the 
President's House and the Capitol are large and beau- 
tiful grounds. Lafayette Park, on the north side of 
Pennsylvania Avenue, in front of the executive man- 
sion, is laid out and planted vnth. shrubbery, &c., and 
contains the new bronze equestrian statue of President 
Jackson. To avoid the unpleasant angularity caused 
by the peculiar intersection of the streets, open spaces 
are to be lefl at these points, which are to be laid out 
.and planted with trees, &;e. There are also extensive 
grounds around the city hall, called Judiciary Square. 

But SLAVERY exists in this city, though perhaps not 
quite so badly as in som(! more southern portions of 
the slave states ; yet it docs exist in sufficient force to 
bring the blush on every truly American cheek. Yes, 



48 SLAVEKY UNMASKED. 

in the capitol of tliis model Republic, where the Stars 
and Stripes are unfurled to the breezes of heaven, this 
hideous institution rears its shameless head in solemn 
mockery of our pretentions to freedom. Here is 
where Solomon Northrop was immured in a dark, 
filthy dungeon, and finally unlawfully sold, almost 
hopelessly, into southern bondage. 

Here is where the Edmonson family in 1848 were 
recaptm'ed, imprisoned, chained, and sent to the New 
Orleans market. 

While here we went down one evening to a certain 
stream in the lower part of the city, spanned by a 
bridge which led over to a prison, in the dungeons of 
which many a poor slave has been committed for safe 
keeping, until sold or called for b}^ his master. 

Here I will give an account of one tragic scene out 
of many, one that is vouched for by a representative 
of the nation, who saw it as it occurred. Said the 
honorable gentleman, " While going over tliis bridge 
one day, I saw a young woman run out of the prison 
bare-footed and bare-headed, and with very little 
clothing on. She was running with great speed to 
the bridge as I approached it. My eye was fixed 
upon her and I stopped to see what was the matter. 
I had not paused long when I saw three men run out 
after her, I then knew what the nature of the case 
was : a slave was escaping from her chains — a young 
woman, a sister, a daughter, was fleeing from the bon- 
dage in which she had been held. She made her way 
to the bridge, but had not reached it ere from the Vir- 
ginia side there came three slaveholders. As soon as 



SLAVERY UNMASKKD. 49 

her pursuers saw tbcni tlioy called out, ' Stop her ! 
Stop her!' True to tlieir Virginia instinct, they came 
to the rescue of their brother kidnapi)er3 across the 
bridge. The poor girl now saw there was no chance 
pf escape. It was a trying time. She knew tliat if 
she went back she must be a slave forever — she must 
be dragged down to the scenes of pollution which the 
slaveholders continually provide for most of the poor, 
sinking, Avretehed young women whom they call their 
property. She formed her resolution ; it was the 
promptings of desperation and despair, but it placed 
her beyond their reach forever. Just as her pursuers 
were about to put hands upon her to drag her back, 
she leaped over the balustrade of the bridge, and 
down she went to rise no more. She chose death 
rathcj than to go back into the hands of these Chris- 
tian slaveholders from whom she had escaped." 

After having promenaded the streets of "Washing- 
ton in quest of sight-seeing wonders as long as our 
time would allow, we took omnibus for the Potomac 
steamer en route for Charleston, via Richmond, Va. 
Had a line run during the night, and the next morn- 
ing breakfast time found us at the sumptuous tal)le of 
a dining saloon in this capitol of the Old Domiiiion. 

But to proceed with the record of my observations 
of the country through which we passed : and here 
allow me to say that this country has been so fre- 
quently and so graphically described by abler pens 
than mine that I shall attempt nothing labored on the 
subject, but simply to sketch a plain narration of com- 
mon-place scenery and matter-of-fact occurrences trans- 
3 



50 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

piriug before me. And to begin, I remark, the first 
thing that strikes the e3^e of a northern tourist on 
leaving the Potomac for the south, is the general char- 
acter and features of the country, phj^sicallj. Though 
the climate is mild, the soil rich and productive, yet 
the whole face of the country presents so perfect a 
contrast to the beautiful one through which he had 
just passed from New York on to Washington, as to 
modify, most marvellously, all his pre-conceived no- 
tions of southern greatness and southern wealth ; of 
the splendor and magnificence of southern plantations 
and southern chivalry. A few minutes after leaving 
the Potomac, he passes directly through large fertile 
plantations, divided off' into the most gloomy looking 
fields I ever saw, with fences rotting awa}^, houses and 
out-houses in a state of decay ; in short, wliole premi- 
ses on the rapid march of retrogression. 



CHAPTER iJ. 



RICHMOND. 



KicinroNi) is tlic largest town in Virginia, and is 
said to be one of tlie most beautiful in the whole 
Union. It is situated on the left bank of James river, 
at the falls, and at tlie head of tide-water, about one 
hundred miles, in a straight line, south by west from 
"Washington. The situation of the city, and the scene- 
rv of the environs, are much admired, combining in 
a high degree, the elements of grandeur, beauty and 
variety. The river, winding among verdant hills, 
which rise with graceful swells and undulations, is in- 
terrujDted by numerous islands and granite rocks, 
among which it tumbles and foams for a distance of 
several miles. 

The city is built on several hills, the most conside- 
rable of which are Shockoe and Richmond hills, sepa- 
rated from each other by Shockoe creek. It is laid 
out with general regularity in rectangular blocks. 
About twelve parallel streets, nearly three miles in 
length, extend northwest and southeast, and were ori- 
ginally distinguished by the letters of the alphabet, 
street A being next to the river; other names, how- 
ever, are generally used. 

The principal thoroughfare of busuiess and fashion 
is Main, or E street. Those which intersect it are 
named from the ordinal numbers. First, Second, Third, 



52 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

&c, Tlie capitol and other public buildings are situ- 
ated on Sliockoe liill, the top of which is a beautiful 
elevated plain in the western part of the city. This 
is the fashionable quarter, and is considered the most 
desirable for private residences. 

The capitol, from its size and elevated position, is 
the most conspicuous object in Eichmond. It stands 
in the centre of a public square, of about eight acres, 
is adorned with a portico of Ionic columns, and con- 
tains a statue of Washington by Houndon, taken from 
life, and considered a perfect likeness. 

The City Hall is an elegant and costly building in 
the Doric style, at an angle of capitol square. A short 
distance from the capitol is the governor's residence. 

There are about thirty churches in the city belong- 
ing to the Baptists, Episcopalians, Methodists, Presby- 
terians, Friends, Lutherans, Campbellites, Universal- 
ists and Catholics; also, two Hebrew synagogues. 

The Great Monumental Church, (Episcopal,) occu- 
pies the identical site of the theatre which "was burned 
to the ground in 1811, on which mournful occasion 
the governor of Virginia and more than sixty other 
human beings perished, 

Eichmond possesses an immense water power deri- 
ved from the falls of James river, which, from the 
commencement of the rapids, a few miles above the 
city, descends about one hundred feet to the tide level. 
Few places in the State, or in the whole country, pos- 
sess greater natural advantages for })roductive indus- 
try, which recently attracted much attention. The 
principal articles produced here are flour, tobacco, cot- 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 53 

ton and woollen goods, pnpcr, machinery, and iron 
ware. There are about forty tobacco factories, some 
of which are very extensive. 

Richmond is also a great slave mart; Virginia being 
llie great slave-breeding state, they arc brouglit here 
for shipment, and ;dso for sale to soiitliern drovers. 

Not only in Virginia, but also in Mar^^land, North 
Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri, as much 
attention is paid to the breeding and growth of ne- 
groes as to that of horses and mules. Further south 
they raise them both for use and for market. 

It is a common thing here for planters to command 
their girls and women, (married and unmarried,) to 
have children ; and I am told a gi'cat many negro 
girls are sold off, simply and mainly because they did 
not have children. A breeding woman is worth from 
one-sixth to one-fourth more than one that does not 
breed. 

Tlie following was told me by one conversant with 
the facts as they occurred on Mr. J.'s })Iantation, c(m- 
taining about one hundred slaves: One day the owner 
ordered all the women into the barn ; he followed 
them in, wliip in hand, and told them he meant to flog 
them ^11 to death ; they, as a matter of course, began 
to cry out, " What have I done, massa ? what have I 
done, masisa ?" He replied, "D — n you, I will let you 
know Avhat you have done ; you don't breed ; I have 
not had a young one from one of you for several 
months." They promptly told him they could not 
breed while they had to. work in the rice ditches. 
(The rice grounds arc low and marsliy, and have to be 



54 .SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

drained ; while digging and clearing the ditclies, tlie 
women had to work in mud and water from one to 
two feet in depth ; they were obliged to draw np and 
secure their frocks about their waist, to keep them out 
of the water ; in this manner they frequently had to 
work from daylight in the morning till it was so dark 
they could see no longer.) 

After swearing and threatening for some time, he 
told them to tell the overseer's wife, when they got in 
that way, tlien lie would put them upon the land to 
work. 

This same planter, continued my informant, had a 
female slave who was a member of the Methodist 
church ; for a slave, she was intelligent and conscien- 
tious. He made criminal proposals to her, which she 
declined. He left her and sent for the overseer, and 
told him to have her flogged. This was done. Not 
long after he renewed his proposal, which she again 
refused, and was again whipped. He then told lier he 
meant to whip her till she should yield. The poor 
creature, seeing that her case was hopeless, her back 
smarting with the scourging she had received, and 
dreading a repetition, gave herself up the victim of 
his brutal lusts. 

While on this subject, to show the disgusting pollu- 
tions of slaverj^, and how it covers with moral tilth 
everything it touches, I will state one or two facts 
which I have on evidence that I cannot doubt : 

A planter here offered a white man twenty dollars 
for every one of his female slaves with whom he would 
cohabit successfully. This offer was made for the pur- 



SLAVEKY UNMASKED. OO 

peso of iin^Jroving the stock, on the samo })niiciple 
that fanners endeavor to improve tlioir cattle by cross- 
ing tlie breed ; and I have not tlic least doubt but 
tlioiL-^ands and tens of thousands of the cross breeds 
liere are produced b}- sueli considerations. One of 
the New Orleans papers, in speaking of the proliibi- 
tiou of the African Slave Trade, while the interna- 
tional slave trade is permitted, says : 

" The United States law may, and probably does, 
put millions into the pockets of the people living be- 
tween the Roanoke and Mason and Dixon's line ; still 
we think it would require some casuistry to show that 
the present slave trade from that quarter is a whit bet- 
ter than the one from Africa. One thing- is certain, 
that its results are more menacing to the tranquility 
of the people in this quarter, as there can be no com- 
parison between the ability and inclination to do mis- 
chief, possessed by the Virginia negro, and that of the 
rude and ignorant African." 

That the New Orleans editor does not exaggerate in 
saying that the internal slave-trade puts millions into 
the pockets of the slaveholders in Maryland and Vir- 
ginia, is clear from the following statements made by 
the editor of the Virginia Times, an influential polit- 
ical paper, published at "Wheeling. The editor says : 

" We have had intelligent men estimate the num- 
ber of slaves exported from Virginia within the last 
twelve months at one hundred and twenty thoiLsand, 
each slave averaging at least six hundred dollars, mak- 
ing an aggi'cgate at ($72,000,000,) seventy-two million 
dollars. Of the number of slaves exported, not more 



56 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

than one-third have been sold, (the others having been 
carried b}^ their owners, who have removed,) which 
would leave in the state the sum of ($24,000,000) 
twenty -four millions dollars, arising from the sale of 
slaves." 

According to this estimate, about forty thousand 
slaves were sold out of the State of Virginia in a sin- 
gle year, and the professional slave-breeders who sold 
them, put into their pockets twenty -four millions of 
dollars, the price of the bodies and souls of men. The 
Natchez Courier says, " the states of Louisiana, Mis- 
sissippi, Alabama and Arkansas, imported two hun- 
dred and Fifty thousand slaves from the more north- 
ern states in a single year." 

ISAAC WILLIAMS. 

The following brief history of the life, thrilling ad- 
ventures, and successful escape from the house of bon- 
dage, of a Virginia negro man by the name of Isaac 
Williams, who often crossed my joath while in the 
South, has already appeared before the public. 

I give it in his own words, from the North Side 
View of Slavery: 

My master's farm is in Virginia. When my first 
master died, his widow married a man who got into 
debt, and was put in prison. The woman gave up her 
rights to get him out. Tiien we were sold. Every 
man came to be sold for her lifetime, then to revert to 
the heirs. They were sent straight to a slave-pen in 
Richmond. Where they went after that I know not ; 
\ 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 57 

tlutt was the last I heard of tlieiii ; \\c could not help 
it ; they went off crying. My purchaser bought also 
the interest of the heirs in me, and I remained with 
him ten years, until my escape, near the close of 1854r. 

Before I was sold, I liii\'d out to work, at one; time, 
to a man on the llappahannock. Three of his men 
got away ; went as far as Bluff Point ; then they were 
overtaken, tied to his buggy by the overseer, who 
whipped up, and they had to run home. 

One, our employer and his overseer wlu])ped, ta- 
king turns about it, mitil tliey cut him through to his 
caul, and he died under the lash. The emplo3'-er, it 
was said, caused the man's heart to be taken out and 
carried over the river, so as not to be haunted by his 
spirit. He was arrested and heavily fined. The oth- 
er two runaways were sold south. Then I worked for 
another person, being hired out to him. Directly af- 
ter I went to him, I went to a haystack to feed cat- 
tle, and I accidentally set fire to the haystack, which 
was consumed, for which I received three hundred 
lashes with hickory sticks. The overseer gave me the 

blows and Jo counted them. Ilis feeding was 

herrings and a peck of meal a week — never enough — 
if one wanted more he had to steal it. My last mas- 
ter's allowance was a peck and a half of corn meal a 
week, and a small slice of meat for each dinner. If 
anj^thing more was got, it had to be obtained at night. 
He had but one overseer, and that but for one year. 
He was a sharp man — whipped me with a cowhide. 
I've seen him whip women and children like oxen. 

My master owned a yellow girl, who he feared 
3* 



58 SLAVERY unmasb:ed. 

would run away. I w^as his head man, and had to 
help do it. He tied her across the fence, naked, and 
whipped her severely with a paddle with holes, and 
with a switch. Then he shaved the hair off one side 
of her head, and daubed cow-filth on the shaved part, 
to disgrace her — keep her down. 

I tried hard to avoid the lash, but every year he 
would get up with nie for a whipping, in some way. 
I could not avoid it ; he would catch me on some- 
thing, do how I would. The last time he whipped me 
was for stealing corn for bread, for Christmas. George 
was with me. He tied our wrists together about a 
tree, and then whipped us with a carriage whip ; that 
was six years ago. He whipped till he wore the lash 
off; then he tied a knot in the end, and gave me a 
blow which laid me up limping three weeks ; the 
blood run down into my shoes. 

After that he used to whip the others. George and 
others would have their shirts sticking to their backs 
in the blood. I have seen him strip my wife and whip 
her with a cobbing board or cowhide. 

One Sunday he sent me into the woods to look for 
hogs. I could not find them, and I told him so on my 
return. Said he, " They are killed and eaten, and 
you know the going of them." I told him the truth, 
that I did not know of it. 

He then seized me by the collar, and told me to cross 
my wrists. I did so — but when he laid a rope across 
to bind them, I jerked them apart. He then under- 
took to trip me forward with his foot, and as I straight- 
ened back to avoid it, it threw him. He kept his hold 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 69 

on my collar, and called for help. The servants came 
|X)uring out ; they seized me, and he tied my wrists 
together with leading lines, eleven yards long, wrap- 
ping them about my wrists as long as there was a 
piece to wrap. Then he led me to the meat house 
and said, " Go in there ; I'll lay examples on you for 
all the rest to go by — fighting your master ! Whilst 
one was making a cobbing-board, and another was 
gone to cut hickory switches, and he was looking up 
more leading lines, I got a knife from my pocket, 
opened it with my teeth, and holding it in my mouth, 
cut through the lines which bound me. Then I took 
a gambrel and opened the door. I had made up my 
mind, knowing that he Avould come well nigh killing 
me, to hit with the gambrel any one who came to 
sieze me. When I burst the door open, no one was 
there, but master was coming, I sprang for the flats ; 
he hailed me to come back ; I stopped and told him 
that I had worked night and day to try to please him, 
and I would never come back any more. I stayed 
away nine days ; then he sent me word that he would 
not whip me if I would come back. I went back and 
he did not whip me afterwards, but he used to whip 
my wife to spite me, and tell her, " You must make 
Isaac a good boy." 

This is true, God knows. 

At one time, one of the hands named Matthew was 
cutting wheat. His blade being dull, our master gave 
him so many minutes to grind it. But Matthew did 
not grind the blade down in the time allowed. Trou- 
ble grew out of this. Matthew was whipped and 



60 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

kept cliained by tlie leg in one of tlie buildings. One 
day when master was at church, I showed Matthew 
how to get away. He went away with the chain and 
lock on his leg. The neighbor's people got it off. He 
then took to the bush. After two or three weeks my 
master sent me to look for him, promising not to whip 
him if I could get him in. I did not see him, but I 
saw Matthew's sisters, and told them master's promis- 
ing not to whip him. On a Saturday night, soon af- 
ter, he came in. He was chained and locked in the 
house until Sunday. Then he was given in charge of 
Wallace, (a colored man employed in the kitchen,) to 
take care of him. On Monday he was whipped, and 
then mast3r got me to persuade him not to run away. 
He would'nt tell Matthew he was afraid he would run 
away, but would tell him he could'nt get away — that 
times were so straight with the telegraph and railway 
that he could'nt get away. And that's what keeps the 
poor fellows there ; that, and knowing that some do 
set out, and get brought back, and knowing what is 
done with them. So Matthew sta3'ed on the farm. 
This occui-red last summer, [1854.] 
In the fall I was making money to come away, by 
selling fish which I caught in the creek, and by other 

means, when a woman on Mr. 's farm came to 

see me about some one that she feared would leave. 
As we talked she said, " You would'nt go away from 
your wife and children ?" I said, "What's the reason 
I would'nt ? to stay here with half enough to eat, and 
to see my wife persecuted for nothing when I can do 
her no good. I'll go either north or south, where I 



SLAVERY rx MASKED. 61 

can get enougli to eat, an.l if ever I got away from 
that Avife, I'll never have another in slavery, to be 
severed in that way." Then she told her master, and 
he let on to my master that I was making moiic\- to 
go away. 

By and by I saw ^Cr. E., who had a little farm in the 
ueighboi-hood : then I said to one of the men, "thei-e's 
going to be something done with me to-day, either 
whi}) me or sell me, one or the other." A while after 
as I was fanning ont some corn in the granary, three 
white men came to the door — ni}^ master, Mr. E., and 
a neighboring overseer. My master came walking to 
me, taking handcuffs out of his pocket: "Come Isaac," 
says he, " it's time for you to be corrected now ; you 
have been doing wrong this year or two." Said I 
" What's the matter now, master?" He answered, "I 
am not going to whip you ; I've made up my mind to 
sell you, I would not take two thousand dollars for 
you on my form, if I could keep you. I understand 
you are getting ready to go off." 

He had then put his handcuffs on me. " Well, sir, 
it is agreed to go as freely as water runs from the 
spring," meaning that I would go with him without 
resistance or trouble. " I have done all I could for 
you, night and day, even carting wood on Sunday 
morning, and this is what I get for it." 

"Ah, sir," said he, "you are willing to go, but it will 
be none the better for you." 

" Well, master, there's good and bad men all over 
the world, and I am as likely to meet with a good man 
as a bad man." 



62 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

*' Well, sir, if there's not less of that racket, I'll give 
you a good brushing over." 

I was going to the house, then, from the granary. I 
answered, "well, master, I am your nigger now, but 
not long." 

Then I met my wife, coming crying, asking, "What 
is the matter ?" I told her, " Eliza, no more than 
what I told 3^ou; just what I expected was going to 
be done." 

His word was, " Take her away, and if she don't 
hush, take her to the granary and give her a good 
whipping." She was crying you see. 

He took me to his bed room and chained me by one 
leg to his bed post, and kept me there, handcuffs on, 
all night. He slept in the bed. Next morning he 
took me in a wagon and carried me to Fredericksburg 
and sold me into a slave-pen to George Ayler for ten 
hundred and fifty dollars. 

Here I met with Henry Banks. He entered the 
slave-pen after I had been there three days. He had 
run away since May, but was taken in Washington, 
D. C. 

On a Thursday evening came a trader from the 

south, named Dr. . He looked at Henry, and at 

a man named George Strawden, and at me, but did 
not purchase, the price being too high. I dreamed 
that night that he took us three. 

Next morning I told Henry, " That man is coming 
to take you, and George, and me, just as sure as the 
world ; so, Henry, let's you and me make a bargain to 
try to get away, for I am never deceived in a dream ; if I 



SLAVKIiV UNMASKED. 63 

dreamed master was going to wliip iin>, lu^ would sure- 
ly whip somebody next day." That's ;us good a sign 
in the South as ever was. 

About breakfiist time Dr. eamc and stripped 

us stark nalced, to examine us. They frequently do 
so, Avlicther buying women or men. He says, " Well, 
boys, I am satisfied with you all, if you are willing to 
go with me, without putting me to any trouble." lie 
had his handcuffs and spancels, (ankle-beads they call 
them for a nickname,) with him. I said to him, "Yes, 
we are willing to go with you, and will go without 
any troul)le ; I came without any trouble, and will go 
without any trouble,"' but he did not know my mean- 
ing. I have no farm to keep you on myself," he said, 
I live in Tennessee ; I am going on to Georgia, and 
will take fifteen hundred dollars apiece for you ; I'll 
get as good a place for you as I can ; 'tis not so bad 
there as you have heard it is." I said, "Oh yes, mas- 
ter, I know you will do the best you can ; I am will- 
ing to go." "Well, get up all your clothes against the 
cars come from the creek, and then we'll go to E,ich- 
mond." " I suppose, master, we'll have time to get 
'em ; how long will it be before the cars come along?" 
"About three quarters of an hour, boy," 

Then he went to George Ayler to give him a check 
on the Richmond bank for three thousand four hun- 
dred dollars, for the three men. Henry and I then 
got up our clothes ; I put on two shirts, three pairs of 
pantaloons, two vests, a sack coat, and a summer coat 
in the pocket. Henry did the same with his ; so wc 
had no bundles to carry. Wc were afraid to let 



64 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

Greorge know, for fear he Avoiild betray us. Dr. • 

left the gate open, being deceived by our apparent 
readiness to go with him. We told George, " Stop a 
minute, we are going to get some water." Then we 
walked through Fredericksburg. Having left the city 
we crossed the bridge to Flamouth, turned to the left, 
and made for the bush. Then we heard the cars from 
the creek, as they were running to Fredericksburg. 
On looking round we saw a number of men coming- 
after us on horseback. The way we cleared them 
Avas, we went into the bush, turned short to the right, 
leaving them the straight forward road ; we then mov- 
ed on towards the very country from which I was 
sold. "We were out three weeks, during the last of 
which we made a cave by digging into a cliff, at the 
head of the creek. The southern men who saw the 
cave, (as we heard afterward when we were in jail,) 
said they never saw so complete a place to hide in. 

All this time I had visited my wife every day, ei- 
ther when the white folks were occupied, or by night. 
One Saturdaj^ night Ave hunted about for something 
to eat, without finding anything until midnight. It 
then came into my head about the man who had per- 
suaded my master to sell me ; so Ave Avent to him and 
got a dozen chickens, Avhich Ave took to our cave. 
This made us late ; it Avas sunrise Avhen avc reached 

our cave, and then H , Avho Avas standing in tlie 

Avoods looking for my brother Horace, saAV us going 

into our den. Then he went off and got N , Avith 

a double barreled gun, and T Avith a hickory 

club, and himself returned Avith a six-barreled revolv- 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 65 

cr. Then I licard N asking, " Wlio is in here ?" 

I looked up, and tlicre was the gun within two feet of 
my head, up to liis face, and cocked. "Surrender or 
I will blow your brains out !" I looked out, but saw 
no way of escape but by going across the creek. N. 
was on one side with his gun, H. on the other with 
his revolver, and T. over the entrance with his hickory 
stick. I said to Ilenr}', "What are we to do ? I started 
for death, and death we must tr}- to go through. I 
want to see the man that bought us no more." N. 
hailed me by name, for he had now seen my face, 
" Surrender, for if you come out I will blow out your 
brains. "Then," said I, "you will have to do it." 
Then I came out, bringing my broadaxe weighing se- 
ven and a lialf pounds in my hand, — he just stood 
aside and gave me a chance to come out by the muz- 
zle of his gun. "We sprung for the creek, I and my 
partner. In the middle it was over my head, but I 
reached the other side, still holding on to the broadaxe. 

While I was struggling to get up the bank, N. 

fired^ and shot the broadaxe out of my hand, putting 
twenty-nine shot into my right arm and hand, and 
seven into my right thigh. I ran until I got through 
apiece of marsh, and upon a beach near some woods. 
I was standing looking at my arm, and on looking 
round for Henry, saw him in the hedge. By this 

time n had crossed the creek too. I called to 

Ilenry to come on, and as he rose from the hedge, N. 
shot him. lie fell ; then he got up, ran a little <lis- 
tance, and fell again. Then he rose up, presently fell 
a third time, but again recovered himself and came 
to me. 



QQ SLAVEKY UNMASKED. 

Finding ourselves wounded and bleeding, so that 
we could do notliiug further towards e3cap3, we gave 
up. Thej tied our hands behind ns with a leather 
strap, which was very painful, as my wounded wrist 
swelled very mnch. I begged them to loosen it, but 
they would not. 

They took us to Jail in county. Dr. II. there 

counted ninety shots in Henry's back, legs, and arms. 
We stayed in jail a month lacking three days; two 
weeks in a sort of dungeon in the cellar : then, Henry 
being sick with fever, from the effects of the shooting, 
they put us up stairs, one story higher. We were 
kept on water and collois (out side leaves of cabbage, 
half cooked) I begged the Lord, would I ever get out 
and if it was so that I was to be caught after I got 
out, not to let me get out. 

In my dream, I saw myself prying out, and heard a 
man speaking to me and saying, " As long as there is 
breath there is hope." 

His voice awoke me. I told Henry and we got up, 
and went to the place where I had dreamed of trying, 
but we could not open it. This was after three weeks. 

Then the agent of Dr. came to examine us. He 

found we were shot so badly, that he would not take 

us to Eichmond, unless he first heard from Dr. 

as there was said to be some dispute between Dr. 

and Ayler about the money. On a Thursday, three 
days before the month of November was out, we ex- 
pected Dr. , but he did not happen to come. 

I had been trying several days at the windows, but 
dispaired of getting out there,— so I took a stove leg 
and a piece of a fonder, and tried at another window 



SLAVERY UNMASKKD, 67 

facing the Jailor's house. Then conscience said to me, 
"go and try that window that you left, and see if you 
can get out." I looked at Henry to sec if he was talk- 
ing, but he said he had not spoken. I then returned 
to the first window, and pried off a short plank by 
the window to sec how it was built. 

The jail was of brick, and the window frame was 
secured in its place by an iron clamp spiked. On re- 
moving the plank, I found behind it a short piece of 
iron spliced on. This I pried off with the stove leg; 
then I replaced the plank. 

At night, just after dark, I went to work at the 
window. ITenry was too sick to work, but when I 
needed his help, he would come and aid me. With 
the piece of iron I had taken fi'om the wall, I got a })ur- 
chasc against the clamp. 

AVe took the bedstead to pieces, and using the short 
or long pieces as was convenient, we started the frame 
oft" on one side, splitting them at the bottom, where the 
grates were let in, and bending all the cross-bars. 
Where the sills split off, it left a place so wide, that by 
removing the bricks underneath the Avindow, we en- 
larged it sufficiently to get through. I stretched out 
of the opening full leng-th and let go, falling to the 
ground. Henry follow'ed me, I assisting him down. 

We walked eight miles that night, to my master's 
fl^rm, and hid ourselves in the neighborhood, until 
Saturday night. Then I went out for something to 
eat. On my return, I saw as many as fifteen men 
hunting for me, some on horses, some on foot, with 
hounds. I squatted close behind a thick cedar bush 



68 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

until the white men were out of sight, and then I 
scared away the hounds. I then rejoined Henry at 
our tent. If the runaways knew enough, they could 
keep clear of the hounds, by rubbing tlie soles of their 
shoes with red onion or spruce pine. It now com- 
menced to rain, and we were obliged to dig a den in 
the ground, expecting to stay there imtil spring, as 
we thought it would be too cold to travel in the 
winter, and that in the warm season we might live on 
fruits by the way. About this time a neighboring 
farmer had two mules killed by a boar. His overseer, 

H , the same who found me before, told him that 

Henry and I had done it, then S D and 

others sent to Fredricksburgh for men and hounds to 
drive night and day, and take us, dead or alive, with 
orders to shoot us down at the very first sight. This 
we learned from some of our very good friends, — and 
then we determined to leave. Here I come to speak 
of Kit Nichols, a slave on another plantation. Kit 
had been beaten, and had run away. He laid down 
in a wet ditch to avoid his pursuers. I met Kit in the 
woods. He was anxious to go with us, and we all 
three started on Monday night, the first day of Decem- 
ber, 1854. 

" We walked eighteen miles, the first night, to , 

kept on through the towns of and , up 

to M . At M , I met a colored man, and 

asked him for food, as I had been fasting a long time. 
He directed us to a place where he said we could get it. 
He then went away, and soon we saw him returning 
with three white men. Kit and Henry dodged, and I 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. (i'J 

went on and met the white men flico to face. Kit and 
Henry heard them say they were ' three boys going 
to Warrington.' 

" They passed on to the place where the colored man 
had sent us. Wo traveled on towards Warrintrton. 
until wc struck the railroad, and then footed it to Alex- 
andria. On the way, we went up to a house, where 
Ave found a white man and his wife. We asked him 
to sell us some bread. Said he, ' Have you got a 
pass ?' Said I, ' I have no pass, but we want some 
bread, and will pay for it.' He went on, ' You can't 
travel without a pass.' We told him we were hun- 
gry, — he kept on talking about a ' pass.' Finding 
we could get no bread, we left him, and he set his dog 
on us. 

" On the Virginia side of the bridge, we bought ci- 
gars and a few cakes. Wc lighted our cigars, and 
walked on, swinging a little cane. We passed through 
Washington City. It now rained. We wandered 
about all night in the rain in Maryland. Just at day- 
break we heard the cars, and walked for the railroad. 
Before reaching it, we went into the bush, and with 
some matches I had kept dry in my hat, made a fire 
and dried our clothes. We remained in the bush all 
day, watching and sleeping, and at night went on to 
the railroad. On our wa}' we met two white men, 
who asked us, ' Where are you going ?' I told them 
' home.' ' Where ?' ' In Baltimore.' ' Where have 
you been ?' ' Chopping wood for John Brown.' They 
asked us, ' Are you free ?' ' Yes.' ' Where are your 
papers ?' 'At home in Baltimore.' They went into 



70 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

a sliantj to arm themselves. While the}' were doing 
this, we ran as fast as we could. We reached Balti- 
more just at light, and laid down in a small piece of 
bush in the corporation. We watched as the trains 
came in through the day, to see where the depot was, 
as we wished to get on the track for Philadelphia. At 
night we walked boldly past the depot, but we were 
bothered by the forking of the roads, and came out at 
the river. Then we turned back. After a while we 
saw a long train moving out of the city. We followed 
it, and went on to Havre dc Grace, — but we did not 
cross the bridge, we could not cross over as we had 
wished. We moved in another direction. We con- 
cealed ourselves the next day, and again traveled all 
night. In the morning we met with a friend, a col- 
ored man, who guided us about ten miles, and then 
directed us to a place where we had an abundance of 
food given us, — the first we had tasted since Thurs- 
day, although it was now Saturday night. After this 
we met with no more trouble." 

" If slavery were abolished," remarked Williams, 
" I would rather live in the Southern States. I would 
work for some one, but I should want to have a piece 
of land of my own." 

Eichmond, although an old and beautiful city, yet it 
is a southern city, and everj^thing about it is so southern 
and anti-progressive in appearance, as to create a sen- 
sation of home-sickness. On passing directly through 
New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington 
— ■ those great marts of business — where you see life, 
stir, and action equivalent almost to turning the world 



SLAVERY rX]S[ASKi:U. 71 

upside down, one becomes weary with the tameness of 
Eichmond — the want of interest in all its localities, 
to satisf)- a roving nortliener, and the utter absence of 
those ennobling, exciting, progressive elements so pe- 
culiar to northern life sickens him, and he chooses the 
monotony of travel, day and night, night and day, in 
quest of something new, either pleasing or displeasing, 
it matters little which, anything to get up a little ex- 
citement, sufficient to throw ofl' the spell of a disa- 
greeable reaction. So off he starts with a degree of 
pleasure in anticipating something ahead to stir his 
blood, if not to move his Ijrain and delight his eye. 
Ilere he goes across the swamps, over the streams, 
through the forests, and everywhere else the iron 
horse may sec fit to drag Imn, in his southward cours- 
ing, lie passes anon over the roofs of houses, or 
rather huts, the stalls of human cattle ; yonder grins 
up at him woolly heads, and ivory teeth ; there stands 
an old colored woman by a wash-tub on the bank of 
a small stream, the diligent application of her hands 
to the suds, elbow deep, is evidence 'prima facie^ that 
no lash-master is required in her case, for the time- 
being at least. But on goes the fire-racing horse, at a 
maddening rate, leaving them all out of sight. 

Now he enters one of those far-famed southern plan- 
tations — one that is a few grades above common ones, 
head and shoulders at least above its neighbors. Here 
is a large field, a meadow perchance, or something else, 
of 400 or 500 acres enclosed, and there is something 
intended for a gate, opening upon a lane extending 
some half-mile or more up to the residence of the 



72 SLAVERY UN]N[ASKED. 

owner of the plantation, and of tlie numerous flocks 
of cattle swarming the fields, composed apparently of 
an equal number, or nearly so, of horned cattle, sheep, 
negroes, asses and mules. There goes up the lane a 
load of hay, cornstalks, or something else very much 
like them, on a two-wheeled cart, resembling our 
northern drays, drawn by two mules and a jack, har- 
nessed up in Indian file. Astride of the hind one is a 
large negro, reining the sorry-looking beasts. In the 
adjoining field are some ten or fifteen negroes, male 
and female, engaged in plowing ; using one of the 
old-fashioned shovel-blade jjIows, such as I fancy 
was in common use in the early part of the old Roman 
Republic, in the da3^s of Cinchmatus, when called by 
the Senate from the plow to the Dictatorial chair. 
And yonder stands a white man, braced up with a 
pretty strong set of sinews, apparently well fed, guess 
he is the overseer, may be the master ; but on goes 
the train, railroad speed, smoking, puf&ng, rattling 
along, leaving them all out of sight, affording scarcely 
an opportunity of speculating on their appearance or 
condition. A long, loud whistle from the steam en- 
gine announces his close proximity to some place. 
Now he is brought up to a dead halt. Petersburgli is 
the place — one of the second class cities of Virginia, 
within a few miles of the North Carolina line. Peters- 
burgh is a small, southern-looking city, of about 8;000 
inhabitants, possibly 5,000 ; containing half as many 
negroes, it may be judged, as white people, and wholly 
devoid of interest to a northerner. But the shrill 
whistle of the old engine is heard again, the bell rings, 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 78 

the passcQgers rush for their seats, uiid in a inorneut 
li,^s'off for the more southern soutli, moving at the 
rate of some ten knots an hour, over a tract of country 
challenging, I was about to say, the world to j)ro(luce 
its counterpart. 

Here the whole train dives unccrein(Miously into 
the North Carolina pine forests, the celebrated tar 
nianudicturing depots of the world. But oh ! the 
gloom, the gloom, the gloomy appearances that loom 
up over, and set brooding upon them. Who can de- 
scribe it? 

Did you ever visit, kind reader, the world-renowned 
localities of our own Loyalsoek ? Well, you scarcely 
yet have an adequate idea of that peculiar type of 
gloominess which is here experienced by a native- 
born and native-bred northerner. There mossy rocks 
walled up heavenward, beautiful cascades and water- 
falls, blue, round mountain tops, &c., &c., inspire emo- 
tions of sublimity and awe. But hero the gloom is 
perpetual, endless ; ivlievcd by no such collateral cir- 
cumstances of pleasing insjDiration. They remind me, 
as I think of them, of the place and surrounding cir- 
cumstances of Bunyan's Pilgrim, where he saw the 
hob-goblins, and where dark smoke and fire flashed 
^^p over his pathwa}'', and where evil spirits anon 
whispered cruel curses and blasphemies in his ear. 

But no place, notwithstanding, like these lone, lone 
forests, I suppose, to the natives of these parts, who 
seem literally to swarm them, botli white, black and 
yellow, all embarked in the tar business — gathering 
tar, boiling tar, barreling tar, and shipping off tar. 
4 



74 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

And DOW you may judge for yourself, that if those 
men of tar did not look like, they must at least have 
smelt somewhat like the tarpaulins, or diabolians, that 
infested the sad pathway of poor Pilgrim. 

By the way, I am told that fortunes are amassed in 
this way, ffl these woods. Well, no matter, though 
men look like devils, act like devils, smell like devils, 
and in reality are part devil, since more than an equiva- 
lent is found for all this in the almighty dollar — for 
that is the way the world goes. 

Well, on he goes, through many a weary hour, all 
night long, snoozing and waking, dreaming and jolt- 
ing, passing unconsciously many a small villa of negro 
huts and hen coops, until about five o'clock in the 
morning, when he reaches Wilmington, the chief city 
of North Carolina. 



CUAPTKR TTl. 

WILMINGTON, N. C. 

Wilmington is the largest and most commercial 
town in the state. It is situated on the Icfl or east 
bank of Cape Fear river, just below the entrance of 
its north-east branch, 30 miles from the sea, 135 miles 
south-east from Raleigh, 180 miles north-east from 
Charleston, and 41 G miles from Washington. 

From a distance it makes rather a pleasing and im- 
posing appearance. Its streets, river banks, &c., at 
low tide mark, together with its public squares, and 
other unoccupied lands, have somewhat the appearance 
of the bleaching snow fields of New Foundland ; and 
the city its(>]f above the sand surface, with its richly 
cultivated gardens, like a beautiful Oasis in the great 
deserts of Arabia. 

Its population and business elements have been 
greatly increased by the construction of the Wilming- 
ton and Raleigh railroad, which extends north to 
Weldon, on the Roanoke river, 162 mUes, and forms a 
part of the great highway of travel north and south. 

Wilmington is not a large city, its population may 
reach ten thousand, possibly fifteen thousand, but it is 
a place of great commercial importance, shipping ofij it 
it said, more naval stores than any other port in the 
Union. A great many small and middling sized crafts, 
a few coasting steamers, and some large ships, are to 



76 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

be seen in its port. Saw moi'e life, stir and business 
here than in any otlier place this side of Washington. 

It has several fine appearing retailing establishments, 
and some quite large trading houses. Its hotels are 
middling ; the North Carolina House, where we took 
up our quarters while here, is rather superior, kept by 
a New Engiander of very pleasing, gentlemanly ad- 
dress. Everything contributing to the comfort of the 
traveling public, his house aflbrded ; its tables loaded 
down with more of the luxuries of life than is condu- 
cive to health, and all surrounded by an orderly and 
cleanly set of servants. 

Its churches also present quite a respectable appear- 
ance on the outside, saw none inside but the First 
Methodist chapel, and that was a neat, plain building 
inside and out, displaying both good taste and practi- 
cal utility in its construction. On the wdiolc, Wil- 
mington might pass for quite a tolerable place, were 
it not for some indelible, unmistakable marks, foot 
prints of the peculiar institution, which never 
fails to blast with a sickly, withering influence, every- 
thing with which it comes in contact. 

FIRST sabbath IN THE SOUTH — WENT TO CHURCH. 

We arrived here, as before stated, at about five 
o'clock on Saturday morning, and laid over for a short 
time ; spent the Sabbath with the Carolinians, and at- 
tended church three times during the day and evening, 
at the First Methodist church of this city — and for 
the first time in our life, the M. E. church. South. — 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 77 

Went to church with feelings and reflections .somewhat 
peculiar. Was about t<i hear men pray, preach, and 
administer the holy sacrament, who owned, bought, 
and sold human beings, soul and body both, beings for 
for whom God's blessed Son died as well as for them- 
selves. It was a quarterly meeting occasion. Took 
our seat about mid-way in the church, among tlie body 
seats, (no pews here.) The congregation accumulated 
rapidly just before the hour of preaching arrived, — 
The cliajiel was of brick, newly built, I should judge, 
and would seat perhaps lifteen hundred ; pulpit in 
the rear of the building, and preacher s office directly 
back of the pulpit, communicating with it by two 
doors, one on each side. And, by the way, a very 
convenient and useful appendage to the church. And 
about five minutes before opening the exercises, out 
came the two preachers, readj^ for their work. The 
Presiding Elder is an intelligent, venerable-looking 
man of about forty -five — do not remember his name — 
preached a very good sermon, rather too much south- 
ern as a matter of course for my northern ears ; but 
let that pass, it did tolerably well. But the singing 
was something extra — was congregational — (no Metho- 
dist choirs, south,) in this they are ahead of us, north; 
and we ahead of the times, or rather of the good old 
Wesleyan congregational singing, which, when follow- 
ed as it was thirty years ago, in spirit and in truth, 
was more spirit-moving and awakening than one-half 
of our modern preaching. Oh ! God of Abraham, 
Isaac and Wesley, help us back to the good old land- 
mark. 



78 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

But to proceed. We said their singing was good : 
it was so. They sung all over the house, gallery, be- 
low, pulpit and all. Oh, there was music in it — mel- 
ody, spirit and pathos inspiring the soul, moving the 
heart, and almost completely captivating the whole 
man. It carried us way back into the history of re- 
tired years, the happiest years of our life, w^lien our 
hopes and aspirations were all young and vigorous, 
and when our worship was less cumbered with forms, 
and our devotions went off more like a powerful 
steam engine, ghaking every thing around, than in 
these latter times. But we must forbear, or some of 
our readers will be apt to hurl " croaker" at us, and 
that you know hurts, sometimes. 

Did not attend the sacramental services of the 
whites; but attending the afternoon services, com- 
mencing at three o'clock, at the same chapel, which 
was for the exclusive benefit of the colored portion of 
the Church, and consisted of administering the sacra- 
ment, and of baptizing a dozen or two colored child- 
ren, by the ofiiciating pastor. This is the way we un- 
derstand they do in the Carolinas — no colored pastors 
of Churches allowed here as in some other portions of 
the South, but all belong to the same Church, white 
and colored botli having the same preacher, and he of 
course a white man and a freeman. The whites all sit 
below, and the colored all in the gallery, when they 
all meet at the same time, which, however, is some- 
what a difl&cult matter in some cases, for want of room. 
One preacher told us he had belonging to his Cliurch 
400 whites, and 1,500 colored members; a large 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 79 

Church that, niiiotecii huiulred communicants. They 
hold nil th.'ir official meetings, h-)vc-fcasts, class-meet- 
iiiL'-s, ])vaycr-mcctings, sacraments, &c., &c., separate. 
They have, indeed, two organizations, as nigli as can 
>>e, in the same Church, under the superintendence of 
the same pastor. You may not unfrequently liear ap- 
pointments like the following given out from the pul- 
pit by the officiating preacher : The official members 
of the white brethren will meet me at the preacher's 
office to-morrow night, at eight o'clock, precisely, &c. 
And on the following evening, at the same place and 
same hoiu', the official colored members will meet me, 
&c. On Thursday evening next a love-feast will be 
held in this house for the white brethren ; and on Fri- 
day evening, in the lower room, a love-feast for the 
colored members, will be held, &c. 

The weather being quite warm, something like our 
northern June weather, ^\'e walked out before Church 
and also after, and between churcli hours. Saw the 
Sabbath horribh^ profaned, both by white and color- 
ed peoplt^, b}' walking in whole droves in the fields, 
along the highways, playing, running, wrestling, jump- 
ing, singing, racing horses over the plains, &c; so un- 
like a New England Sabbath as to shock the nerves 
of a descendant of the Puritans. 

The Sabbath is rather a day of recreation and pas- 
time with the slaves South, than otherwise ; in which 
they visit each otlier, and spend the day in a very un- 
becoming manner — following closely the examples of 
their masters, many of them, at least. There are, how- 
ever, exceptions, some few, to the great mass of Sab 



so SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

batli-breakers. On the whole, it was rather an un- 
pleasant, unprofitable day to us, being our first Sab- 
bath m the South, a little too much curiosity to grati- 
fy for our spiritual profit. 

INHUMANITY OF SLAVEHOLDERS. 

The poor slaves of the south are treated with less 
humanity, in many instances, than Northern farmers 
bestow on the cattle of their fields. 

One or two illustrations we will here furnish, which 
go strongly to corroborate the above declaration. We 
left the hotel in W , after breakfiist on a Decem- 
ber morning, and walked a few miles on the bank of 
the river. Ascending a small hill, I saw, after reach- 
ing the top, a colored man coming up on the other side, 
slowly, wearily, and in a perfect state of nudity. When 
he saAV me, he was frightened and ran out to a willow 
tree that lay bent down nearly horizontal!}', over the 
stream ; and tm-ning about, he leaned against a limb, 
looking at me, and tossing up his hands, he exclaim- 
ed, imploringly, " Oh, Goddy, massa !" 

I suppose he intended to request me not to betray 
him ; and I said to him, "I will not betray you, Cuffec." 
But before I had time to inquire into his history, two 
hounds came bounding over another hill, half a mile 
distant, distinctly in view, on a strait ]-oad. Soon as the 
baying of the dogs reached the ear of the fugitive, he 
leaped from the willow into the river — swam a long 
distance under Avater towards the opposite bank, when 
he rose to the surface. I was surprised to see how 



SLAVEliV UNMASKED. ^1 

•lirectly he swam across, as the watei*s were cold, and 
the current strong. I saw him emcrg(i upon tlie oppo- 
site side, climb an oak tree, and seat himself on a limb. 
The hounds came on slowly, following the track — 
and well they might, for the blo6d of the })Oor slave 
was left in nearly every footstep — keeping u}) a con- 
stant baying. I had heard of the " baying of hounds," 
but I had never conceived how appalling the blood- 
thirsty tones were, until they fell on my ear, while I 
saw their victim, weary, and helpless, with no longer 
any hope of escape. 

The dogs came up the hill where I stood, followed 
the track out upon the willow, plunged in where the 
man did, swam across and ran up to the tree, baying 
loudly in the triumph of success. I walked out to 
the willow and sat down upon it in sadness of heart 
at what my eyes had seen, and my ears had heard. — 
Soon two white men came over the farther hill on 
horse back, and when they saw the man in the tree, 
and heard the dogs baying beneath it, they set up a 
tremendous shout, and rode on at full speed down to 
the tavern, three miles below. Thinking it might be 
unsafe lor me to remain and watch the fate of the slave, __ 
whom I had no power to assist, I returned to the tav- 
ern. Here I found a large crowd of men who had 
gathered around the bar to receive a "^/'ea^" from the 
" nigger hunters," who always have that kind of glori- 
fication when the slave is captured alive. It was now 
nine o'clock, yet they continued to drink until four 
o'clock in the afternoon, before they went over the 
river to take the man down. 
4* 



82 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

And what astonislied me more than anything else, 
was, that no man suggested it was time to go and bring 
the slave in. I heared no question asked as to how 
long lie had been without food, how far he had run, 
or whether he was so famished and exhausted that he 
would be likely to fall from the tree and be rent in 
pieces by the dogs. But the conversation ran mainly 
upon the feats they had performed in the negro hunts, 
and the punishments the runaways get when they 
are caught. Finally, after seven hours of rioting, they 
rode away. "What became of the poor victim I never 
learned. 

The hound is taught to regard the slave as his natur- 
al enemy. The slave is never allowed to chastise 
him. If the dog is stealing his dinner, he may push 
him away gently, pull his dinner awa}^ from him — but 
he must not venture to pull his ears, or scold him, or 
strike him, on paiu of being whipped himself b}^ his 
master. 

I saw a slaveholder near M , teaching puppies 

to hunt slaves. He was the owner of a slave mother 
and boy, Harr}^, who was about four years old. The 
mother was a light quadroon^ having just enough Af- 
rican blood to wave the long black hair, and gloss the 
full, black eye. There are large numbers of such 
slave girls in the South, and a foreigner has truely 
said that they are the most beautiful specimens of 
American women. But her little Harry was not so 
light colored, and he had rough, hard features. He 
was a very sensible boy, roguish and reckless, and he 
acted as though the bad blood of all his ancestors ran 



SLAVEIIV L'NMASKKU. 63 

in his vein?. Ilis "bump of dcstructiveness," vcsis 
very large, and it very often cost liini a flogf^ng. 
lie killed all the kittens about the house, all the 
chickens he could catch, broke all the eggs he could 
find, destroyed all the crockery he couhl lay hold of, 
and left his mark on every piece of furniture in the 
house, and on every tool and carriage on the premises. 

He had a peculiar dislike to turke3's. Not one 
could be raised except in a yard with a fence so high 
that Harry could not climb it. A close, high fence 
was made around the turkey yard, and they were re- 
garded as secure from the enemy. But Harry ran a 
little ])ole up to the to]) of the fence, climbed up, 
jumped in, aii<l killed thirteen turkeys — a mother 
and twelve little ones. In his haste to kill the turkies, 
he forgot to run the pole over on the inside, so that 
he could get out ; and being obliged to call for help, 
the "murder was out." Sambo opened the door to 
let him out and seeing the turkeys killed, he ran into 
the house and told his master. Harry had been in- 
dulged it was thought quite enough by his master, as 
he Wfis an idol, only son of his mother "Hatty." 
And she was the fixvorite slave <^ her master, Col. V., 
who had uniformly regarded the feelings of the tender- 
hearted, doting mother, so for as not to punish Hany 
in her presence. But this provocation threw him into 
a passion. 

" Hatty," exclaimed the enraged master, "go and 
bring the little d — 1 to me." Hatty went out and led 
in Harry, who appeared quite self-possessed, and with 
out fear of punishment. But his mother saw that her 



84 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

master was enraged, and imagining some terrible thing 
was contemplated in the use of the knife, which Col. 
v., held in one hand, while he reached out the other 
and exclaimed passionately, " hand him to me ! I'll 
fix him!" She ventured to say "don't master, don't 
cut him with the knife ?" 

"Hold your tongue," said the master, " and set the 
boy on my knee, and hold him still !" 

Grasping one ankle with the left hand, he commen- 
ced cutting small gashes through the skin on the bot- 
tom of the foot. Harry strove like a hero, kicked 
and squirmed ; struck his master in the face, and pull- 
ed his hair ; but he succeeded in cutting both feet till 
the blood ran freely ! Col. V., then told his son to 
lead Harry out around the stable, by a circuitous 
route, to a low, pine tree, to which he pointed, about 
twenty rods distant. Hatty was ordered to cut up a 
plate of raw beef in small pieces, and bring it to him. 

The Col. took the plate of meat in his hand, went 
to the kennel and unchained the mother of seven 
blood-hound puppies, and led her around on the track 
of Harry, with the puppies following after. At every 
few steps he droppe^l a piece of meat on the blood 
which was left on Harry's track, for the puppies to eat, 
where they would receive the scent of the blood of 
the slave. When he arrived at tlie tree, he sent his 
son back with the mother of the puppies, while they 
remained to eat the meat given them under the tree. 
Harry was taken down from the limb of the tree on 
which he sat, and the little hounds were taught to bite 
his feet, around which pieces of meat were thrown. 



S 1 , A V !■, I i 'k' I • N M A S K K L). 85 

TTatty, in tlic mean tiiiio, was \v^ingill^■ licr liamls as if 
her heart were bursting, and as though sh(^ liad for- 
gotten tluit she was a favorite liouse servant, and had 
a kind, indulgent master. 

One day while I was in the city of M , there 

was a terrible outcry in the streets. 

"What is the matter ?" 

" A negro in the creek !" 

"Where?" 

"Out over the railnnul briduv." 

And ull the city rushed into the street, and over tlic 
bridge. I followed on with the crowd. Besides the 
negro, two hounds were in the creek also, endeavoring 
to eateh him. He would dive and swim a long dis- 
tance under water, so deep tliat tlie dog-s could not see 
the direction he took; but when he raised his head 
above water to breathe, the dogs swam towards liim 
and sji/^ed his lindjs and held on till he jiM'lced them 
away, leaving his flesh in their teeth. Soon his pur- 
suers were seen coming from the woods, and he, per- 
ceiving that further attempts to elude them were vain, 
came out of the creek and gave himself np to the hun- 
ters. Two of them dismounted and took him, one by 
either arm, to lead him over th(^ bridge into the city, 
in the midst of the vast exulting multitude. A friend 
of mine, an intelligent New England merchant was 
present. He expressed to me his astonishment that 
no svmpathy was manifested for the poor suffering 
slave, whose bare limbs were horribly mangled by the 
dogs. And what most shocked his feelings, as the 
men were leading him, was to hear the boys tell the 



86 SLAVERY UN.MASKED. 

dogs to bite liim — saving, " ssek him ! take liim !" — 
just as tliey woukl set dogs on swino in the streets, and 
with as little pity. 

The negro pretended to be so weak that he could 
hardly walk ; but when about on the centre of the 
bridge, he prostrated one of the men who were holding 
his arms — broke away from the grasp of the other — 
rushed through the crowd — bounded over the railing, 
and sank in the red waters of the river, to rise no more. 
JN o word of pity was heard,' — no emotions of sympathy 
were witnessed for the flite of this man, who had less 
fear of death than that of h:'s brother man ! But the 
air was filled with curses on "runaway niggers," and a 
grand chorus against abolitionists concluded the awfnl 
tragedy ! 

JOHN LITTLE. 

The inhuman treatment of John Little, a native of 
this State, (North Carolina,) is here furnished in his 
own language : 

" I was born in North Carolina, Hartford County, 
nish Murfreesboro' : I lived there for more than 
twenty years. My first master, j ust a reasonable man 
for a slave holder. As slaveholders go, he used his peo- 
ple very well. He had but seven, my mother and her 
six children ; of the children, I was the oldest. I was 
never sent to school a day, and never knew a letter 
until quite late in life. I was not allowed to go to 
meeting. M7 Ijaslness on Sundays was looking after 
the mules and hogs, and amusing my self with running 
hares and fisliing. 



.SLAVKFtY UNMASKKI). 87 

Afy master broke down, and I was taken by tlie 
Sheriff, and sold at public auction in Murfreesboro'. 
I felt miserably bad to be separated from my mother, 
and brothers and sisters. They too felt miserably 
about it, especially my poor old mother, who ran all 
about among the neighbors trying to persuade one and 
another to buy me ; which none of them would jiro- 
mise to do, expecting the traders to give more. This 
she did on Sundays: week days, she had to work "ii 
the plantation. 

Finally T was sold to a man in the country, abfjut 
ten miles from the first place. He abused me like a 
dog — worse than a dog — not because I did an}- thing 
wrong, but because I was a " nigger." My blood boils 
to think about him, let me be where I will. It don't 
seem to me that even upon the Lord's day, and now I 
know that there is a hereafter, it would " be a sin be- 
fore God to shoot him, if he were here, he was so bad : 
he so abused me — he a wise man — abuse me because I 
was a fool, not naturally, but made so by himself and 
others under the slave laws. That is God's truth, that 
I was inhumanly abused. xVt the time of this sale I 
was about twenty-three, but being a slave I did not 
know my age; I did know know anything. lie came 
and said to me, " well boy, do you know who's bought 
you!" I answered, I do not, sir. "Well," he said, 
"I've bought you; do you know me?" I told him 
" I did." " I have bought you, and I'll give you a pass 
(for there colored people cannot go without a pass 
even from an auction,) to go to my plantation ; go 
down there to the overseer and he will tell you what 



88 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

to do." When I got down tliere I found about seventy 

men, women, and children. They told me Mr. B ■ 

was a hard man, and what I had better do to avoid 
the lash. They do that among themselves at any 
time. It was in the winter time, and when the 
horn sounded for us to rise in the morning, we 
were allowed fifteen minutes to get to the Overseer's 
house, about a quarter of a mile off. I wish he were 
now here to hear me tell it ; to see whether it's the 
truth, — ^I could look right in his face the whole time. 

Breakfast was not even talked abotit. We were 
dismissed from work at different hours, but never till 
after dark. Then we would go to our cabins, and get 
up our little fires, and cook, or half cook, our victuals. 
What we did not eat that night we put into little 
old baskets that we made ourselves, and put it handy, 
so that when the horn sounded, we could take it and 
clear to the overseer's. This provision served us all 
the next day. We usually ate it at the time the horses 
ate. We were not allowed to eat during work, under 
penalty of fifty lashes. Tiiat was the law laid down 
by the master to the overseer. We had to plan and 
lay schemes of our own to get a bite. " A nigger 
could always find time to eat and smoke and shuffle 
about, and so he wouldn't allow it us. He wouldn't 
have his work hindered by eating." I don't put the 
blame of cruelty on the overseer : I put it on the mas- 
ter, who could prohibit it if he woukl No man ought 
to take the place of overseer. I blame the scoundrel 
who takes that office ; but if he does take it, he must 
obey orders. 



SI.AVERY UNMASKED. 89 

After being there tliree weeks, I wanted to go back 
to see ray mother who was broken*hearted at the loss 
of lier children. It seemed as if tlic evil one had fixed 
it so, for then two daughters were taken and carried 
off to Georgia. She had been sold for tlie fellows' 
debts — sold close by at jirivatc sale. I asked leave of 
my masto}' Saturday night. I went to him, pulled off 
my hat, and asked him if he would })lease give me a 
pass to go and see my mother, and I would come back 
Sunday evening. "No! I don't allow my niggers 
to run about Sundays, gawking about. I want you 
to-morrow to look after the mules and horses with the 
rest of the niggers." lie was the greatest gentleman 
in that neighborhood. The white men all looked up 
to him. He was called a " nigger breaker." If any 
one had a stubborn slave they couldn't bend just as 

they wanted to, they would hire him to S E 

for a year. I have known them to be sent from as 
much as fifty miles, to l)e broke, because he had so 
much cruelty. He was a hard-hearted scoundrel. The 
cries and groans of a suffering person, even ready to 
die, no more affected him than they would one of your 
oxen in the field yonder. This I have seen and known, 
and partly endured in my own person. 

Ilis refusing the pass, naturally made me a little 
more stubborn. I was a man as well as himself I 
started and went without the pass, and returned on 
Sunday evening after dark. Nothing was said until 
Monday morning ; then we went to the overseer, and 
were all told to go to the gin-house. As soon as I got 
there the overseer and two colored men laid right hold 



90 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

of me, and tied me fast to an apple tree witli some 
of the baling rope, and then sent for the master. He 
came. " Well, sir, I suppose you think you are a 
great gentleman." I thought, as they had me tied, I 
would try to beg off as well as I could, knowing that 
sauciness would not make it any better for me. " I 
suppose," he went on, "you think you can come and 
go whenever you please." T told him '"ISTo! I wanted 
to see my mother very bad, anil so I ran over there 
and came back as I told you." Said he, " I am your 
master, and you shall obey me, let my orders be what 
they may." I knew that as well as he, but I knew 
that it was devilishness that he wouldn't give me a 
pass. He bade the overseer hit me five hundred 
lashes — yes, five hundred lashes he bade the overseer 
hit me! Men have received them down South this 
morning since the sun rose. The overseer ordered two 
slaves to undress me, which they did ; they turned my 
shirt over my head, which blind-folded me. I could 
not see who put on the blows, but I knew it was not 
the master ; he was too much of a gentleman, but he 
had plenty of dogs to set on. What I tell you now, 
I would tell at the Judgment, if I were required. It 
is not he who has stood and looked on that can tell 
you what slavery is — 'tis he who has endured. I was 
a slave long enough to have tasted it all. I was black, 
but I had the feelings of a man as well as an}- person. 
The master then marked on me with his cane where 
the overseer was to begin, and said, " whip him from 
there down." Then the overseer went at it, the 
master countino- iJoud. He struck me a hundred 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 91 

laslic'S ri<^lit off boforo lie stojipcd. It Imrl me liorri- 
bly, but after the first liiimb-ed, sensation seemed 
beaten out of my flesh. After the lirst liuncbvd the 
master said, "Now, yo\i eursod infernal son of a 

b h, your I'unniiiu- idioiit will sjioil :ill the rest- of 

my niggers: I don't want them to be running about, 
and you shan't be running about." T answered, 
"Master, I di(bi't mean any harm ; I wanted to go 
and see my mother, and get a sliirl I left over there." 
lie then struek me over my head twiec with his cane, 
and told me to " hold my .j;iw." T said no more; but 
he tolil the overseer, "put it on to him again like the 

ver}' d 1." I felt worse on account of the blows 

with the cane than for the overseer's whipping ; that's 
what makes me feel so towards him now. It poisons 
my mind to think about him. I was as much a man as 
my master. The overseer then went on with the bull 
whip. How many they put on I don't know, but 
I know that fi-om the small of my baek to the calves 
of my k^gs they took the skin clear off as you would 
skin beef. That is what the}'- gave me that day. The 
next day I had to have some more. One of the slaves 
then washed me with salt and water to take out the 
soreness. This almost put me into a fit. It brought 
all the pain back. The abominable scoundrel knew 
it would. Then 1 was taken up to the blacksmith's 

shop to be fettered. That was the wa}' S E 

broke " niggers." His name sounded around there 
as if he had been Satan himself. The colored people 
were afraid of him as they wouhl be of a lion out of 
the bush{>s. 



92 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

Iron rings were put about my ankles, and a short 
chain to the rings. I was given in charge to two 
slaves. Some may deny that the slaveholders arc so 
bad, but I know it is true, and God knows it is true. 
A stranger may go there, and they are not such fools 
as to put such punishment on a man before him. If 
he is going to do that, he will send him over the fields 
out of the way, and while they are enjoying themselves 
in the house the slave is suffering under the whip. A 
reo-ular slaveholder has no conscience. A slaveholder 
knows the difference between a northener and a 
southener. 

If a man came from any other part, he never saw 

me in irons. G L might have seen me, or 

L • K , or any other slaveholder might come 

and see it, and hold a council over it, and blackguard 
me for it. "Boy, what have you got that on for? — • 
That shows a d — d bad nigger ; if you wasn't a bad 
nigger you wouldn't have them on." 

The two slaves took me in charge, with orders to 
kill me if I tried to escape. At night my feet were 
made fast in the stocks without removing the irons. 
The stocks were of wood with grooves for the ankles, 
over which laid an iron bar. I could lie on m}^ back, 
but could not turn. The next morning I was sent to 
the gin -house to receive fift}^ blows with the bucking- 
paddle. This was my master's order. I received three 
blows and then fainted. When I came to, only one 
slave was with me, who took me to the field to work ; 
but I was in so bad a state that I could not work that 
day, nor much for a week. After doing a hard day's 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 9*$ 

work ill the fetters wliieli had now worn to the bone, 
for they would get wet with dew in the morning, and 
then sand would work in, I was placed in the stocks, 
my ankles sore, bleeding and corrupted. I wislied T 
could die, but could not. 

At the end of three months he found I was U)o 
stubborn for him to subdue. lie took off the fetters 
from my ankles, put me in handcuffs, and sent me to 
Norfolk Jail to be shipped for New Orleans. But 
when I arrived, the time that niggers were allowed to 
be shipped to New Orleans was out, and the last boat 
for that spring had sailed. After two weeks I liad the 
measles. My master was written to, but neither came 
nor sent any answer. 

As the traders were coming there with slaves, the 
turnkey put me into th(^ kitchen to avoid contagion. 
I soon got better. The turnkey said, " you are well 
now, and you must be lonesome ; I'll put you in with 
the rest in a day or two." I determined to escape if 
I could. At night I took a shelf down and put it 
a"-ainst the enclosure of the vard, and climbed to the 
top, which was armed with sharp spikes fourteen 
inches long, and risking my life I got over the spikes. 
Just as I had done this, the nine o'clock bell rung the 
signal for the patrols. I fell on the outside and made 
for the river, where I found a skiff loaded with wood. 
I threw over half a cord in a hurry, and pushed off for 
the opposite shore to go back into the neighborhood 
of my old place, hoping, by dodging in the bush, to 
tire out my master's patience, and induce him to sell 
me running. I knew nothing about the north then* 



94 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

I did not know but tlie Nortlieners were as bad as the 
Southerners. I supposed a white man woukl be my 
enemy, let me see him where I woukl. 

Some of the neighbors there Avould have bought me, 
but he refused to sell me in the neighborhood, being 
ashamed to sell there a slave whom he could not break. 
He gave up first, but I was the worst beaten. I was 
as big-hearted as he was ; he did not like to give up, 
and I would not give in. I made up m}^ mind that if 
he would find whips I would find back. 

Having lightened the skiff, I paddled across, and 
went back to North Carolina to my mother's door. I 
ran about there in the bush, and was dodging here 
and there in the woods two years. I ate their pigs 
and chickens. I did not spare them. I knew how to 
dress them, and did not suifer for the want of food. — 
This would not have taken place had my master com- 
plied with my reasonable rccpiest for a pass, after I 
had done my work well without any fault being found 
with it. 

But when I found out by that, and by his cruel 
punishment, that he was a d — 1,. I did not care what I 
did do. I meant he should kill me or sell me. 

My master did not advertise me when he got the 
news of my escape, saying it was their loss, as I was 
placed in their charge. He sued, but was beaten. — 
After this he advertised for me, ofFering fifty dollars 
for my capture, dead or alive. A free-born colored 
man, whom I had known, betrayed me. Some poor 
white fellows offered him ten dollars if he would find 
out where I was. He put them on my track. At ten 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 96 

one inoi'uiii^u', they found inc lyinji,- down asleep. I 
partly aroused, and heard one say, "don't shoot, it 
may bo somebody else Ij'ing down diutdv." I arose 
with my flice towards them. IMiere -were six young 
white men ai-nied with gnus. I wheeled, and ran. — 
They cried out, " .sto]), or I will shoot you." Our of 
them, a real youngster, hit me, firing first. The others 
fired, and said they shot their best, but did not hit. 
A bullet and a buek.shot entered my right thigh ; the 
shot came out, but the bullet went to the bone, and is 
there yet. It injured a sinew so that my foot hurts 
me to this day when I walk. I ran about a quarter of 
a mile, then my foot all at once gave out, and I fell. 
They came up with dirks, threatening me with instant 
death if I ever winked my eye towards molesting 
them. They took me in a cart and put me into the 
county jail. All that night I lay wishing they had 
shot me dead. I did not want to fiice that hyena 
again. He kept me in jail until a slave driver came 
from Western Tennessee, lie took me out to Tennes- 
see to hire out or sell — anything to get rid of me. I 

was hired out to T • K , in Jackson, Madi.son 

Co., two years. I did very well ; the man who hired 
me was a pretty fair sort of a man for a slaveholder. 
During the two years I became satisfied with my con- 
dition. In about a year after I married a young wo- 
man belonging to T N ; she is living with 

me yet. 

About nine months after our marriage, I was, on a 
sudden, without suspecting anything, jerked up and 
put in jail again, to be sold. I was taken hj a driver 



96 '' SLAVERY UNMASKED. 



to Memphis, and put into tlie liands of a planter, who 
was to sell me when he got an opportunity. In about 
two weeks, when I got rested, I started to go back to 
see my wife ; but I got taken up on the way, and put 
in jail. The people asked me where J was going. I 
told them the "truth : " To Jackson.'' I've been into 
pretty much all the jails round there. It seems to me 
wonderful, when I have known nftn to be killed, 
without doing so much, or going through so much as 
I have, that I should have been spared. It is only by 
the mercy of God that I have escaped so many dan- 
gers. I have known men to be killed by less acci- 
dents, — but I was spared, although I have the marks 
of many wounds and bruises. 

In jail they fettered m}' ancles again. There was a 
black man in the room with me, who was caught 
under the same circumstances as myself — going to see 
his wife, as a man has a right to do. I was very 
muscular and smart, but he was stouter than I. %We 
broke through the top of the jail at night — the shin- 
gles cracking gave the alarm. M}^ friend was scared, 
and did not dare fall ; but I did not care what befell 
mc, and I rolled off to the ground, without having 
time to use strips of bed-clothes which we had pre- 
pared. I was chained, and could not spring to save 
myself; it was a hard fall, but I was not quite stun- 
Sed. I should not have not got off, but my pursuers 
^^''"hered each other. They first started for the roof, 
^ finding we were outside, the jailor cried: "Go 
outsidt^ I (]Qj^'t igt, 'gjn come down !" His wife, hearing 
this, thoou^g^^ ^g were coming down stairs, and secured 



SLAVERY UXMASKED. 97 

the door. While they were breaking out, I crept on 
my hands and knees about two hundred yards, to a 
creek, which I crept over in the same way. Tlien I 
looked around, and saw the jailor on the top of the 
jail with a light in his hand, looking for me, not think- 
ing I could get down chained. He called; "John! 
John ! where are you ? If you don't answer me, you 
son of a b — h, I'll kill you when I get you." A neigh- 
bor crossed over, and asked : " What is the matter?" 
He answered : " The d — d niggers are breaking out of 
jail.'' I heard distinctly on the other side of the creek, 
where I sat listening to hear what course they would 
take. As I crept, I had to spread my feet to keep my 
chains from rattling — a child could have taken me, 
chained as I was. In a few minutes the whole village 
was in an uproar. I heard the jailor tell some one to 
go to a man that kept dogs, and " tell him to come in 
a minute — I want him to run a nigger." I then crept ; 
I could creep faster than I could run. From what I 
had told my captors, they thought I had gone to Jack- 
son, and so failed of finding my track. 

I did not know where I was, nor which way to go. 
I found a road, and wandered along in it. When my 
hands and knees got cold with creeping, I would ge* 
up and shuffle along with my chain. At day-break, 
as the Lord would have it, I came to a blacksmith's 
shop. No one was there. I went in and felt among 
the tools in the dark, and found a great new rasp. I 
took the rasp along with me, and crept on to find a 
bush, and wait for daylight. As soon as I could see 
to do it, 1 cut my leet loose. 1 would give fifty dol- 
5 



98 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

lars if I had the iron here that I've been abused in, to 
show people who saj they don't believe such things — 
who say that men are not so absurd. I would like to 
show them the irons, and the paddles, and the whips, 
and the stocks that I have worn on me and been pun- 
ished with. At eight o'clock in the morning, my feet 
were free. I had nothing to eat since noon the day 
before. I wandered in the woods all day, eating 
acorns, and tr3'ing to find the route to Jackson. 

I meant to get there ; nothing would have stopped 
me but death. I was not going to have another man 
send me around the county just where he liked. That 
night I got the course for Jackson; and after walking 
an hour, I entered a barn-yard and found among the 
harness a bridle. I was barefooted and bareheaded — 
had nothing on but my shirt and pantaloons, — all else 
I had taken off to get through the roof of the jail. 1 
then walked into the stable, and found what appeared 
to be a gentleman's riding-horse ■ — and a better nag I 
never laid leg across. He took me further in three 
hours than he ever took any one else in six, I think. 
When I got to Jackson, I turned the horse loose in 
the street. He wandered about awhile, but the owner 
got him at last. When he sees this, he will know 
who borrowed his horse, and if he will send his bill, I 
will settle it. I have plenty of land, and plenty of 
money to pay off all debts, and if some of my old 
friends would come this way, I would pay oif some 
other old scores that are on my back. 

At Jackson, I saw my wife. She had been bought 
by F — ■ — T y a regular negro-trader — one of the 



SLAVERY UNMASKED, 99 

biggest dogs in the bone-yard. He said he would buy 
me running if he couhl, but no one wiis to be told 
where I was, as he wished to buy nie eheap. lie 
wrote to my master that he had bought my wife, and 
that I was dodging about the place ; that lu; did n't 
want me about amonoj- his " nit^wrs :" but that, if he 
would sell me, he would catch me if he could, — if 
not, he woidd shoot me. The answer was, that my 

master would sell me for eight hundred dollars. "J^ 

paid the money, and took possession of me. lie put 
m9 oa his farm. H3 was overbearing — his overseer 
was more so. lie was one of those who, when they 
get a "nigger," must whip him, right or wrong, just 
to let him know " that he is a nigger." No fault was 
found with my work. He looked sharp to try and 
find some way to get at me. At last he found a way 
to do it — an excuse to whip me, — it was in this way: 
one day he heard me speak something to one of the 
hands ; it was some of our nonsense, of no consequence 
whatever. But he was itching for an excuse to flog 
me, and now he had got one — for it was a rule that 
there should be no talk on work hours, except about 
the work. 

My master having heard that I was an old runaway, 
and had given trouble to my master, cautioned the 
overseer not to bear down very hard upon nie, until I 
had got habituated to the place and the ways. The 
overseer went to the master and said it would never 
do to excuse that "nigger;" for if he talked, the rest 
would stand and hear it ; he should either whip or 
take me off the place. Master told him, and was over- 
LofC. 



100 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

heard to say it, that if I would not obey him, he might 
take me down and give me three hundred with the 
paddle. 

The overseer made up his mind to give me the pun- 
ishment next evening. When I got through work, I 
went home, tired and hungry, • — my wife met me at 
the door, laid her hand on my arm : " John, three 
hundred for you this evening with the paddle !" That 
news filled my stomach very quick — it stopped my 
hunger, but it made me feel thirsty for blood. I 
swore that I would not leave the quarters until -I was 
killed, or had killed any man — master, overseer or 
slave — who might come to take me. But as it hap- 
pened, a gentleman from New Orleans came to see my 
master that night, and so the punishment was post- 
poned. If this was done for a southerner, how could 
a northerner expect to see any punishment? That 
visit was what prevented my killing a man, and being 
killed for it that night; for I had a good sharp 
axe, and I know I should have uf?cd it. I waited 
some time for them to come — but as they did not, 
my temper cooled down, and I concluded to take to 
the bush. 

I had heard that if 1 could get into Ohio, and 
manage to stay there one year, I would, after that, be 
a free man. I intended to wait for my wife to get 
smart, she being sick at that time. I took to the 
woods, and once more commenced living on chickens 
and geese, which I understood very well. In about 
two weeks I went for my wife. Another man had 
agreed to come with us ; but he was weak enough to 



SLAVEUY UxNMASKEIX 101 

alvisG with his friends about it, and tliej turned 
traitors and told his jnaster. 

They are just the same lis white nn'ii. I have 
found since I left that 'tis not tlic skin that makes 
a nhm mean. Some of them will l^etray another to 
curry favor with the master, or to get a new coat, or 
two or three dollars, and I liave noticed the same 
mean spirit among white men. But there arc others 
who would sooner die than betray a friend. 

I bade my wife get ready for a start on the next 
night, and then took to the bush again. Meanwhile, 
the traitor slipped to our master, and asked him if he 
knew that three of his negroes were going to run 
away, lie told him " No — which three ?" He 
named us. "Where are they going to?" "Ohio 
State." This aroused my master. Ue went to the 
quarters, tied the man, and tied my wife, and took 
them to a swamp. There they uncovered my wife, 
and compelled a girl to whip her with tlie paddle to 
make her tell where I was. It so stirred me with 
indignation to think that they should so foully abuse 
my wife, that I could have run a dagger through their 
hearts and not thought it wrong ; uor have I yet got 
so far enlightened as to feel very dilTcrently about it 
now. She could not tell him, for she did not know. 
The man was also punished and put in irons. They 
had no irons to lit her, and sent to the blacksmith's 
shop to get some made ; and had it not been for some 
craft on her part that night, I should never have got 
her away. Old Billy, with whom we were usually 
left, was the blacksmith ; and while he was going to 



102 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

make tlie irons, she was left with, a joung man who 
was a stupid sort of fellow. It was then nearly noon, 
and she had no food for the day. She was then' at 
the quarters. She said to one of the girls : " Maria, 
you go to the turnip-patch and get some salad, and 
I'll go to the spring, get some water, and put on the 
meat." She expected the fellow would stop her, but 
he did not. She carried the pail to the spring, about 
a quarter of a mile, then dropped it, and made for the 
bush. It was a down-hill way at first, but by-and-by, 
there was a rise and then they saw her. Out came 
master, overseer, and many slaves, in full run to catch 
her ; but she was nearly half a mile ahead, and ran 
very fast. She got into the woods, which were very 
thick. Master then ordered a halt — he had found 
from the other slaves that I had a pistol, powder and 
ball. I had, indeed, and would have used it, rather 
than they should take me or her.. But I was in 
another place at that time. 

I had appointed a 2:>lfice where she was to come and 
meet me ; when I went she was not there. I then 
drew near the house to ascertain what had happened, 
and heard a loud laughing and talking in my cabin. 
I tried to hear what it was about. I heard one of 
them say : " Lord, how she did run across that field I 
ha ! ha ! ha !" She had baked cakes for our journey, 
and they were making merry over the flour cakes. 
Presently, I saw a colored man, and whistled to him. 
He came up, and I learned what had happened, and 
that all were then out on a hunt for me, being stimu- 
lated by a promised reward of ten dollars. All this 



SLAVEllY UNMASKED. 103 

set me into a tremble ; I turned bark, and went to 
the place I had appointed. She was near by, saw me, 
and ran to mc ; so we were togotlier once more. We 
then walked nine miles northwardly to a little village 
where I had put up my clothes. The man who be- 
trayed us had told our route. 

I got the things and Avent to the barn close by. 
My wife was exhausted. I had a strong constitution, 
and could travel all the time ; but she- was so fatigued 
from the flogging, and the race, and the long walk, 
that she fell on the barn-floor, I returned to the 
house, and walked to a tavern stable, to hook three or 
four blankets to keep us warm on our way north. If 
this was wrong, it was taught me by the rascality of 
my master. 

While at the tavern stable, I heard the dog bark at 
the house I had left. I gathered three blankets and 
bolted for the barn, expecting the scoundrels would 
be pursuing my wife. I saw a candle burning bright 
in the house, and moving from room to room. That 
frightened me. I seized and shook her : " Wife ! 
wife ! master is coming !" — but I could not awaken 
her. I took her up, put her across my shoulders 
manfully, jumped the fence, and ran with my burden 
about a quarter of a mile. My heart beat like a 
drum, from the thought that they were pursuing us. 
But my strength at last gave out, and I laid her down 
under a fence, but she did not awaken. I then crept 
back to the house, to see what was there and get my 
things. The light I had seen now came down stairs, 
and moved towards the barn. I was so near that I 



104 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

saw the overseer and six slaves, armed, searching for 
me. Oh, my soul ! it makes my hair stand up to 
think how near we were to getting caught, and car- 
ried back to be abused and maltreated unreasonably, 
and without cause. 

I was within five rods of them when they went into 
the barn. They searched it thoroughly, as I saw be- 
tween the rails of the fence. " Oh, you rascals !" I 
thought, " you 're defeated now !" But 't was a close 
run and a narrow chance. When they left the barn, 
I kept watch of them. They returned the candle to 
the house, then walked the way tliey had come, to 
the place where they had left the mules. They 
stayed there about half an hour. I still kept watch 
of them. I wanted to get my things, but was wise 
enough to know that every time a slave-holder is out 
of sight, he is not gone ; every time his eyes are shut, 
he is not asleep. They then returned toward the 
house. As they moved, I moved, keeping the same 
distance from them. When they were within about 
ten rods of the house, they crouched down in readiness 
to shoot me when I miglit approach the house. They 
had rendered me desperate by their devilment, and 
knew I would fight ; they would not dare take me 
without first shooting me. I watched them, and they 
watched for me, until the cocks crowed for morning. 
It would not do for me to remain any longer to get 
my clothes and provisions. 

I went back to the place where I had left my wife. 
She was then easily awakened, and we hied to the 
woods to conceal ourselves for the day. We had no 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 105 

provisions but a raw ham, "Wc dare not make a fire 
to broil it, so we ate it raw, like a dog. At night, 
between sunset and dark, I went baek to the house in 
tlic village. At the door I saw a person with our 
things. They gave them to me, and bade me God" 
speed, and that if ever I was taken, not to betray 
them. 

From Jackson to the Ohio river was called one 
hundred and forty miles. Crossed the river at Cairo . 
then we footed through Illinois to Chicago. All the 
way we lay by days, and traveled nights. I forgot 
the name of that city and wandered out of the way, 
and got to a river. It was the Mississippi, but I did 
not know it. It was three months from the time we. 
left home before we slept in a house. We were in 
the woods, ignorant of the roads, and losing our way_ 
At one time we came to a guide-board which said " 5 
miles to Park's Landing." I had learned to spell out 
print a little. This was Sunday night. I took the 
direction I wanted to travel as near as I could, and 
went on. On Wednesday afternoon we came back to 
the same guide-board — " 5 miles to Park's Landing." 
Many such round-about cruises we made, wearing 
ourselves out without advancing. This is what kept 
us so long in the wilderness and in suffering. I had 
suffered so much from white men, that I had no 
confidence in them, and determined to push myself 
through without their help. Yet I had to ask at last, 
and met with a friend instead of an enemy. 

At Chicago money was made up to help me on, 
and I took passage for Detroit, and then crossed to 
5* 



106 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

Windsor, in Canada. That was the first time I set 
my foot on free soil. 



CHAPTER IV. 

CHARLESTON, S. C. 

We landed in Charleston, S. C, this great emporium 
of southern civilization and of southern aristocracy, 
Jan. 9th. Weather was exceedingly warm and mild, 
the climate may with emphasis be called the sunny 
south. It is much like some of our northern June 
weather, and I now write in an upper room, no fire, with 
both windows open, and sufier no inconvenience from 
cold, and could keep them open until nine at night, if 
it were not for the dust and musquitoes. 

Took a stroll down through the market, and there 
saw almost all the green vegetables of a northern July 
— green potatoes, onions, radishes, beets, green oats 
and hay in the bundle, besides a variety of green, fresh 
roses, and posies ; also green lemons and oranges on 
the trees close by, in gardens. 

Charleston is quite a large commercial city, largest 
in the whole South, New Orleans excepted, and con- 
tains a population of about 50,000 inhabitants, with a 
good sea-port, probably best on the continent, except 
New York, and about twenty miles from the ocean. 
Directly across the harbor, on the opposite side of the 
city, is Sullivan's Island, on the point of which, and 



SLAVKKY UNXfASKHD. 

about seven miles from tlic city, is Fort Moultrie ; half 
way between which, in the centn' of the harbor, or 
nearly so, is Fort Sumptcr, with its massive walls and 
frowning port holes, looking down with defiance upon 
all craft that pa.ss by. About three miles to the left 
of which, in coming into port, rises Fort Johnson ; 
and some five miles higher up, near the city, some 
mile or so from the main land, is Castle Pinkey. Thus, 
in a military point of view, Charleston would seem 
almost, or quite invulnerable to the combined fleets of 
the world. 

A gentleman here told me, wiio, by-the-by, appeared 
more loyal to the federal government of the United 
States, than to the commonwealth of South Carolina, 
that a few years ago, when the nullilication mania was 
raging, all of a sudden old General Scott appeared in 
the harbor with a small fleet filled with soldiers and 
marines, with which he emptied the forts and fortresses 
of their former occupants, and filled them with United 
States troops, turning the guns down upon the city, 
and then said to the Carolinians, " now nullify, if ^j^ou 
wish ;" and all at once the nullifiers became mighty 
scarce. Walked up King Street to see the South Car- 
olina Arsenal, and there saw some five hundred large 
Yankee-made cannon, with which the rebellious go- 
vernment of the United States was U) have been 
flogged into obedii^nce by this sist^jr republic ; but 
thanks to Divine Providence, the horrors of war were 
averted, and no very humiliating concessions made by 
our chief executive. 

Charleston is one of the most ancient cities in the 
United States, its foundation having been laid in 1 (^"^^ 



los 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 



Some fifteen years afterwards, a company of Frencli 
refugees, exiled from tlieir native country on account 
of tlieir religious faith, settled in South Carolina, — a 
part of them at Charleston. 

From this noble stock, the French Huguenot, have 
sprung some of the first families of Charleston. 

The city is regularly built, and extends about two 
miles in length, and nearly one and a half in breadth. 
The streets, many of them sixty or seventy feet broad, 
and bordered with the Pride of India and other beau- 
tiful shade trees, run, for the most part, parallel to 
each other, from the Cooper to the Ashley river, and 
are intersected by others nearly at right angles. Many 
of the houses are of brick, some of which are in a 
style of superior elegance ; others are of wood, neatly 
painted, and embowered in the summer season amid 
a profusion of foliage and flowers. The dwellings are 
often furnished with piazzas extending to the roof, and 
ornamented with vines or creepers, while the gardens 
attached to them are adorned with the orange, peach, 
and other choice trees, and a variety of shrubbery. 

There are in Charleston about thirty Churches, one 
or two Colleges, a large Theatre, several quite exten- 
sive Wholesale Houses, and about fifty Hotels. Some 
of the Hotels and Churches are noble costly, structures. 
The chief of the former are kept by northern men ; 
the heaviest wholesale houses are also owned by 
northerners, and northern artists are employed to 
construct all their large and splendid edifices. 

A native southern bred artizan is a very rare thing 
to meet with^ in all the South, except it be among the 



Sl.AVKin- I NMASKED. l09 

poor colored people, and slaves too. Among these 
you may occasionally find tolerably ^^f)()d nieehanics, 
such as smiths, nuxsons, carpenters,^ iniinters, shoema- 
kers, &c. Not so good, as a matter of course, as our 
northern white mechanics. Th(>re are, in fact, properly 
speaking, but two classes in the south, naiuely— the 
ai-istocrats and the operators ; or the oligarchy and the 
serfdom. To the former belong all the wealthy 
planters, merchants, bankers, lawyers and divines— 
witli a few others of more moderate fortunes— all, 
however, stock-jobbers in Imniaii Hc-sh, to a greater or 
less extent. 

And to the latter belong all the operatives, white 
and black, bond and free. If a white man here is 
under the necessity of performing manual labor for a 
livelihood, why, he can scarcely gain admittance into 
the other tlass, any sooner than the poor slave himself, 
of the regular woolly-heads, simon pure. Some few 
exceptions, however, to this rule. The condition of 
the colored people^ in the free states, both native breed 
and escaped fugitives, is a theme frequently discussed 
by the southerners, and very unfavorably contrasted 
with the condition of those in the south. But I waive 
these considerations, for the whole civilized world has 
passed a righteous verdict in the premises. But this 
much I may fearlessly assert, namely— that the poor 
white man in the south, whether native born or not, 
suffers as much, if not more, from southern institutions, 
both civil and social, as do the colored race in the free 
states. 

Unless a man in the slave states can count out his 



110 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

thousands, and tens of thousands, in money, servants, 
or something else, he is next to nobody ; is indeed of 
less account, in many instances, than a good saleable 
negro, for such a piece of property will fetch a large 
sum of money. These gents of the south say— oh, if 
you northerners would only come down here among us, 
and see for yourselves, then you would not feel the 
same opposition to our institutions that you now do ! 
Well, thought I to myself, I am a northerner, and am 
down south looking for myself, and begin to see sides 
and features of the peculiar institution that I 
scarcely contemplated before my southern tour, and 
feel to say this moment, from the bottom of my heart. 
Oh God of ancient Israel, have mercy on both Afri- 
ca's down-trodden race, and Africa's despotic op- 
pressors. 

Dined yesterday with a gentleman slaVe-holder, 
whose wife was a Methodist, a member of the first M. 
E. Church South, in this city. He owns some ten or 
twelve slaves, which he values, I believe, on an aver- 
age, at $1,000 per head. Had a chat of some two 
hours with his lady, previous to his coming in ; and 
she, by the way, is a native northerner, came out here 
a few years ago a school miss, and married a southern 
slave-holder, quite a common thing here. She, of 
course, I found a good slave-holder, and quite fond of 
instituting comparisons between the condition of north- 
ern and southern Africa, within the bounds of these 
United States. 

Her husband, in her opinion, was a very mild mas- 
ter ; he allowed some of his slaves, she said, to work 



SLAVEUY UNMASKED. ill 

for themselves, or in other words, to liirc a portion of 
their freedom, to work for themselves ; two of tliem, 
at least, Jungo and Betty, a man and his wife, the 
former for $40 per month, and tlie latter $12 ])er 
month — that is some $670 per annum they l>ay to thv'iT 
master, eold cash, for this privilege; then all they can 
get over that, they can have to victual, clothe and 
house themselves with. And they do it, poor things, 
and more too, said the lady. But negro people cannot 
take care of themselves, you know, so says the unani- 
mous voice of the south — but say the ncgiocs, just let 
us try, and you shall sec. The fact is, they not only 
earn their own living, but support some thousands of 
families in almost all the luxuries of Princes. 

MUNICIPAL KEGULATIONS. 

Charleston is undoubtedly the strictest in its mu- 
nicipal regulations of any city in the Union ; and this 
arises solely from the fact of its relation to the sj^stem 
of slavery. There is absolute necessity in the case ; 
self-preservation induces them, as remarked in a former 
number, to adopt strirrgent measures to prevent their 
goods and chatties from combining some night and 
cutting all their throats. To prevent which, and to 
keep down all insurrectionary movements, they have a 
heavy armed police, always on hand. There are two 
large guard houses situated in different parts of the 
city. One of them, the largest, occupying rather a 
central position ; both of them large stone buildings, 
having very much the appearance of war-like castles 
or prisons. In these fortresses, are deposited, I should 



112 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

think, some ten tliousand stands of arms, such as mus- 
kets, sabres and cannon all in trim for immediate use. 
The large town clock is at the central, or largest one. 
When that strikes nine at night, all the colored peo- 
ple, bond and free, start for their quarters ; that is the 
signal for them to be on the move. You can then 
hear them running, and walking fast all through the 
streets within hearing distance. The bell strikes nine, 
then a watchman from the lofty watch tower, cries the 
hour nine o'clock, and all is well. Then at a quarter 
past nine it strikes three strokes, and the watchman 
cries out again, quarter past nine, and all is well. 
Just the moment he finishes the last word, the drums 
beat at the door of the guard house, and then woe to 
any colored face found on the walks, or in the streets 
at that time, unless he or she has a written pass from 
their master, mistress or overseer. At this juncture, or 
a few minutes before, some hundred armed men march 
out with gan and bayonet, to take their various sta- 
tions through the city for the night, or to be relieved 
at one or two in the morning by an equal number 
quartered in the guard house. " There is another body 
separate from the one mentioned, called the horse 
guards; they are mounted on horseback and also 
armed ; they ride along, usually, two together all over 
the city and all night long, until six o'clock the next 
morning. By a signal given from the watch tower, 
these armed watchmen can be collected at a given 
point at almost any moment, and in half an hour or 
so, the whole militia, and all the independent com- 
panies of the city could be collected, and armed with 



SLAVERY UNMASKRD. 113 

tlies3 ten thousand guns for defensive purposes against 
the blacks, if need be. Nor is the lioly Sabbath ex- 
empt from tliese war-like demonstrations, for in going 
to eliurch, you have not unfrcquently to eneountcr 
these men, armed from head to foot, for eombat like 
the bloody combatants of the Crimea. From six in the 
morning until nine at night, on God's holy Sabbath 
and in a Rci)ubliean, Christian city, these sights are to 
be seen, year in and year out. 

Now, what shall we think of the Republicanism or 
Native Americanism of these portions of our country 
where tlie liirelings of Europe, (for almost all of the 
above mentioned guard men are Irish Catholics) arc 
paid for guarding, at tlic point of the bayonet, Native 
Americans, to keep them from going to more congen- 
ial parts of our native country, when they may choose 
so to do ? I know what you think, and ten thousand 
others besides you, myself also being included, that is, 
that there is too little of the higher law, and by far too 
much of the lower law in exercise for all concerned. 

And here allow me to bring in another illustration 
or two, of the working of this lower lawism here. Pass- 
ing down one of the main streets one day, I saw quite 
a crowd moving along on the walk, and heard a roar 
of loud laughter, mingled with exclamations of de- 
rision, go up from the masses. And by-the-way, this 
occured not more than twenty rods from those infernal 
regions, the slave auctions. On joining myself with 
the multitude, to take a more minute observation of 
the cause of this stir, I saw a poor broken-liearted, 
half-distract(.'d woman, the mother of a child whom 



114 SLAVEKY UNMASKED. 

these devils of tlie block liad torn from her bosom, 
and sold to strangers, never more perhaps to be seen 
by that mother in this life. She wept and raved, and 
tore like a maniac, crjnng out in those tones of 'des- 
pair and anguish which nothing but a heart broken, 
crushed and wrung to the very core, can ever give ut- 
terance to. 

"Thej have sold my babe, they have sold my babe," 
she exclaimed as she ran through the crowd to ge^ 
hold of it, to grasp it in her arms, to press it to her 
bosom again ; but fruitless effort, it was all vain. 
The babe was borne in one direction, and the mother 
in another. Her fruitless, heart-broken efforts, and 
screams of distress at the result, made mirth for the 
heartless, unfeeling multitude. They laughed, hoot- 
ed and moclced at her misfortune, as though they 
were dumb beasts that were thus separated. Oh ! 
God, said I, or prayed I, while a sensation of sickness 
came over my whole system, and the unbidden tear 
started from my eye, bless this poor, persecuted, crush- 
ed, down-trodden American slave, and have mercy on 
her, and these, her enemies who are guilty of selling 
and rending the body and blood of Jesus Christ. 
" Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, 
ye have done it unto me." 

Passing along on another street, I met a colored 
man with a large iron collar fastened round his neck 
so tight that he could not remove it ; weighing, I should 
think, some ten or twelve pounds. He was undoubt- 
edly a caught runaway, and doomed now to wear this 
heavy iron on his shoulders for months to come, in 



SLAVERY UNMASKED, ♦ 115 

the streets, fields or wherever he jnay chimee to go, and 
be cliaiiied iip by it at night. The sight being so 
novel to nie, I turned niys(>lf round on the walk to 
lools:"at him a seeond time. 

Oh, these dark spots on our governnient, how they 
embitter the mind of a northerner, as also, every for- 
eigner, against the bloody, iniquitous Institution of 
Slavery. I have notieed particularly seamen of for- 
eign nations, English and others, sit at the slave auc- 
tions with their large blue eyes looking astonishment 
to see human beings, men, women, and children, sold 
off like sheep from the stall. 

Under these circumstances, I found myself several 
times almost involuntarily exclaiming, (silently of 
course,) oh, my country, thou art behind the genius of 
the age, and a stench in the nostrUs of Christendom. 

lower lawism — slave prison vs. inquisition. 

I should have added on a previous page that all col. 
ored people, bond or free, who were caught out by 
the watchmen after the drums had beat at a quarter 
past nine at night, without a })ass, Avere unceremoni- 
ously dragged- to the watch-house, by these faithful 
servants of the Pope, and there confined until morn- 
ing; then if they, or their masters pa}^ one dollar, 
they are released ; if not, they arc then dragged to — 
what shall I call it ? We have no building or place 
in all the north, answering to it. I have a name for 
it. I shall term it the South Carolina Lower Law 
Inquisition^ where Native Americans^ many of whom 



116 ^ SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

are the real followers of Jesus Christ, are put on the 
rack, chained to the pillorj, tied up to the whipping- 
post, besides sundry other mal-treatment, not greatly- 
dissimilar to those enacted in the bloodj Inquisitions 
of Portugal and Spain ; and these tortures, also, for 
the most part, are inflicted by Popish hirelings ; a 
suitable business for them. Here they take their first 
lessons in American Inquisition keeping. 

I jcame across a friend, one day on the Atlantic 
Wharf; a regular built down caster, whose Puritan 
heart beat in unison with my own. Said I to him, 
" Have you yet seen that infernal prison, where they 
flog the poor slaves ?" " No," said he. " Well come 
along with me," said I, and I will show it to you." 
So off we started for this house of blood and groans, 
from whose cells and vaults a thousand sighs have 
been uttered, now forgotten by men, but remembered 
in heaven; written in the Book of God, to appear in 
the last day, as evidence against this " sum of all vil- 
lanies." The building is a large one, of enormous 
proportions. I do not now recollect that I ever saw 
a much larger one, except it be the large Stone House 
of Auburn — very much like it — sufliciently ample to 
hold hundreds and hundreds and hundreds, at the 
same time. Indeed, the refractory slaves from all 
parts of the State are sent here for correction, and it 
must be large. Well, by dint of good tact, we Avork- 
ed ourselves in. Had the proprietors known, how- 
ever, who and what we were, we might not have fared 
so well. But we got in, and got out again: thank 
God for that. 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 117 

A beautiful Quadroon, or Mulatto girl, about 20 

years old, the property of a Mr. , living not a 

thousand miles from this city, was endowed by her 
Creator with so much self-respect, had such a clear per- 
ception of the spirit of that noble clause of our Nation- 
al Constitution, viz : the "Inalienable Rights," &c., 
as to disqualify her to brook the degradation of Sla- 
very. As a consequence, she would give her master 
French leave at every convenient opportunit}^ : for 
which, she had nearly as often been sent to this Inquisi- 
tion, for torture; and this had been done so faithfully 
with such inhuman severity, by these Popish Inquisi- 
tors, as to lacerate her back in a most shocking man- 
ner, so that a finger could scarcely be laid between 
the cuts. But her love of liberty was not to be quench- 
ed by the bloody lash, or the torturing pillory ; and, 
as a last resort, she was whipped at several dilfcrent 
times, and chained in solitude, a disconsolate prisoner. 

Austria -is not the only place where women are flog- 
ed. No. These heroic Carolinians can go all round 
old Haynau, and completely shame him out of coun- 
tenance, in this heathen, barbarous business, as the 
sequel will show. 

Whipping, mauling, chaining, and imprisoning, was 
not enough, in the eyes of her master and mistress, to 
inflict upon the person of this beatiful woman, of a 
noble, daring soul. A heavy iron collar must bo 
made, with three long prongs projecting from it, and 
placed around her neck ; worse, by far, than any I 
ever saw worn by a man in a chain gang. Nor is 
this all. Iler propensity being so strong, so great^ to 



118 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

imitate the needle or magnet, viz : of inclining to the 
North, for the piu'pose of identifying her, of furnish- 
ing proof positive to some of the Marks and Tom 
Loker fraternity, a sound and strong frOnt tooth was 
extracted. Her sufferings by this time, you may 
rightly judge, were agonizing in the extreme. She 
could lie in no position but on her back, which was 
sore from those frequent and cruel scourgings ; so I 
was informed from the most reliable source, by one 
who was an eye witness to the whole scene. Now, 
these outrages were committed in a family where the 
mistress dail}^ read the Holy Scriptures, and assem- 
bled her children for worship ; and by her neighbors 
is accounted a very hospitable woman ; and, so far as 
alms-giving is concerned, she undoubtedly is a tender- 
hearted woman to the poor, from all I can learn of 
her ; and yet this poor, suffering slave, who by the 
way, was the seamstress of the family, was necessarily 
continually in her presence, sitting in her chamber to 
sew, or engaged in her other household work, with 
her bruised, lacerated, and bleeding back, her mutila- 
ted mouth, and heavy iron collar, &c., and without ap- 
parentl}'- exciting the least feeling of sympathy or 
compassion in her tender, pious and philanthropic 
heart. But more anon, still darker. 

INQUISITORIAL TORTURES. 

A high spirited and very intelligent man, for a 

slave, belonging to a Mr. , of this State, feeling 

himself as much a man as his master, or any other 



SLAVERY UNM-\SKED. 119 

man, and acting upcu this faith, made many attempts 
to go abroad where he chose, for which offence he 
was punished in every case with brutal severity. At 
one time he was tied up by liis liands to a tree, like a 
savage Indian's victim, and there whipped until his 
back was one gore of blood. To these terrible scourg- 
ings this poor man was subjected, at intervals, for a 
number of weeks, put on with barbarous cruelty by 
the unfeeling inquisitoi*S, and kept heavily ironed while 
at his work. 

His master one day accused him of some trifling 
fault, in the usual terms dictated by the position oc- 
cupied by these republican autocrats when the south- 
ern blood is up a little, full of fury and passion ; the 
slave protested his innocence, but as a matter of course, 
under these circumstances, was not credited. 

He again repelled the charge with honest indigna- 
tion, as any man would, having the soul of a man, and 
conscious of his innocence. His master at this junc- 
ture became a maniac of rage — the very impei-sona- 
tion of Satan himself, seizing a sharp pointed instru- 
ment, he made a deadly plunge at the breast of his 
slave. The man being of a strong, athletic make, by 
far his superior in strength, caught his arm and dash- 
ed the deadly weapon on the floor. The infuriated 
master then grasped at his throat ; again the slave over- 
powered him and rushed from the apartment. Hav- 
ing made good his escape with a whole skull, he fled 
to the swamps ; and after wandering about for several, 
months, among the wild beasts and alligators, living 
on roots, the bark of trees, berries, &c., enduring a 



120 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

tliousand hardships consequent upon his forlorn condi- 
tion, was finally arrested by the emissaries of the In- 
quisition, and imprisoned. Here he lay for a consid- 
erable time, allowed scarcely food enough to sustain 
life, whipped in the meantime almost out of the body, 
and confined in a cell so loathsome, that when his un- 
feeling master came to visit him, he said the stench 
was enough to knock a man down. 

And so it was, for the filth had never been remov- 
ed frorj;! his dungeon since the poor creature was thrust 
into it. 

There is a difference, you will understand, in being 
sent to a States Prison, or to an Inquisition. To the 
former men are sent for correction, and are treated 
with humanity ; to the latter they are sent for torture, 
and are broken, on the wheel. Although a pure Af- 
rican by color, yet such had been the effect of starva- 
tion and suffering upon his person, that his master de- 
clared he hardly recognized him. His complexion 
became so yellow, and his hair, formerly thick andbl.ick 
had become red and scanty : an infallible evidence of 
loniT continued living on unwholesome and insufficient 
food. Stripes, imprisonments, chains, iron collars, and 
the ghastly gnawings of hunger, had broken his lofty 
spirit, for a season at least. After a time, however, he 
made another attempt to escape, and was absent so 
long, that finally a reward was offered for him, dead 
or alive. But he ingeniously eluded every attempt 
to take him, and his master, despairing of ever getting 
him again, as a last resort, offered to pardon him if 
he would return, and, by the way, it is always under- 
Stood in the South that such intelligence will reach the 



SLAVEliY UNM.V.SKED. 121 

fugitive ; it did him, and at the earnest solicitations of 
his wife, and mother, who were also in bondage, un- 
able to flee with him, the poor fellow consented once 
more to return to the house of bondage. And I be- 
lieve it was the last effort he ever made to obtain his 
freedom. lie saw it w:\s a hopeless case, that nothing 
but stripes, and bonds, slavery and death, awaited 
him in this life. lie gave his heart to God, and be- 
came an hmnble, devout Christian ; that fierce spirit, 
which neither stripes, bonds, dungeons, nor death 
itself could subdue, bowed at the cross of Jesus and 
took upon himself the vows of Christianity, and ever 
after, witli lamb-like simplicity, submitted to the yoke 
of the oppressor, and wore his chains without mur- 
muring until death released him. 

Now, the master who thus maltreated and pursued 
with vindictive persecutions, to the gates of death, 
this poor slave, was one of the most influential and 
honored citizens of this State, and by his neighbors 
was called a courteous, benevolent man. 

A poor fellow, not long since, somewhere up in the 
central part of this State, wishing to free himself from 
bis chains by fleeing from the land of bondage, made 
the bold attempt, as thousands and thousands of others 
would do, were they sure of succeeding by wandering 
in the forests, fording rivers, among the alligators and 
poisonous serpents, and by pressing from the scent of 
the southern blood-hound gentry, both of the four leg- 
ged and two legged breed, for months, and then gain her 
Majesty's dominions, soul and body together, they would 

make the attempt. Yes, they would do it, male and fe- 
6 



122 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

male, no matter how much attached they may be to their 
masters, or their masters to them ; they love freedom 
more than anything else on earth : and who can blame 
them for it? • 

But, to the poor fugitive : this man was the slave of 
a Mr. , who had been treated with brutal sever- 
ity through many a long — ^long year of cruel and un- 
natural bondage, but the hour that should terminate 
his servitude drew nigh. One day, after a most se- 
vere scourging from the overseer, he resolved that that 
should be his last day's work on that plantation, or 
on any other in the sunny south. In the evening he 
collected together a small bundle, stowed away into it 
a few crumbs of his remaining rations, and watched 
carefully for a favorable opportunity to start, until the 
clock struck twelve, and again one, then when all was 
still, and even the watch dogs asleep, he crawled 
silently out from his quarters, and on his hands and 
knees, crept by the night patrol unperceived, and for 
a few hours his legs did him good execution ; for the 
dawn of morning found him far in the Carolina for- 
ests, where many a poor fugitive has wandered for 
months until recaptured or starved to death ; the lat- 
ter alternative many chose, to returning into bondage. 

Well, poor Pompey enjoyed a few days, of unin- 
terrupted freedom amid the desolate wilds, every day 
advancing a little toward the land of freedom. But 
how should an untutored, illiterate slave, having 
never been permitted to know the alphabet, or even 
the points of compass, know which way to steer. To 
inquire of any living person would imperil his safety. 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 128 

Yet this poor human beast, made good his way towards 
tlic northwestern States, and would doubtless before this 
time have been under the powerful proteetion of the 
British Lion, but for one circumstance, and that the most 
revolting, — the most barbaric, of any circumstance I. 
ever heard related, or read of in my life. My blood fair- 
ly runs cold, as I think of it, — and to see it in print, or to 
hear it mentioned, makes even the Southerner nervous, 
and a crimson hue of shame come over the cheek of 
the most brutal of them, because of the living, burning 
disgrace it entails upon them, and their cherished in- 
stitution throughout the civilized world. The circum- 
stance was this, poor Pompcy with every sail set, and 
limb strained to bear him away to 

" The land of tlie free aud home of the brave,'' 

was* unluckily discovered by two Carolinian hunters, 
who had gone out for a small hunting excursion : be- 
ing on a sharp lookout for game, they crossed his path 
and from a distance spied him making a northerly 
direction ; quickening their pace, soon came upon him 
and challenged him as a runaway slave ; on perceiv- 
ing them, he ran, and they after him, but finding he 
was likely to distance them, and finally escape, they 
drew up their guns and shot him down ; then, savage- 
like, rushed upon him while yet living, and served him 
far more brutal and savage, than the Russian soldiers 
did the British, wounded on the field of Inkcrmanu, 
viz : — stab them ; they literally hewed him into pieces, 
and gave his warm, bleeding flesh to their dogs to eat^ 

Jed, a man-slave belonging to Mr. , living 

not a thousand miles from this city, who had been 



124 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

long separated from his dear family, simply because it 
best suited the convenience of his owner, ran away. 
He was overtaken and arrested on the plantation where 
his wife, to whom he was tenderly attached, then lived. 
His only object in running away was to return to his 
wife and children. Just as you, or I or any other man 
having a soul in him, would do : — no other fault was 
attributed to him. For this offence he was confined 
six weeks in the stocks of the Inquisition, receiving- 
fifty lashes weekly, during that time, and was allowed 
food barely sufficient to sustain nature ; and when re- 
leased from the dungeon of the Inquisition, was not 
permitted to remain with his family. His master, al- 
though himself a husband and a father, was wholly 
unmoved by the pathetic, touching appeals of the 
poor slave, who entreated that he might only reniain 
with his wife and children, promising to discharge his 
duties faithfully : but his tyrant master was inexora- 
ble and he was torn from his wife and family, perhaps 
forever. 

Now, this Mr. slave-owner was a member of 

Church, a good, humble Christian in his own estima- 
tion ; was in full membership of Church. The 

above cases are literally true, and require no com- 
ments from me. 

CITY GOSSIP — SLAVE AUCTION, 

This living in a slave country, is not very congenial 
to the feelings of a native New Englander. Its ways, 
customs, manners, opinions, institutions, &c., are so 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 125 

different, so directly opposite to those of a descendant 
of the Puritans, that he feels lonely, though surround- 
ed by tens of thousands — he feels himself a speckled 
bird in the flock, a sort of island in the niidst of a 
mass of living, breathing, intelligent matter. lie goes 
to church, enters the domestic circle, visits the prayer 
meeting room, is invited, perchance, into the studio of 
divines, walks the streets, promenades the public 
squares, parks, &c. And yet a disagreeable vacuum 
fills his whole soul ; a spirit of loneliness, of disquiet 
he feels involuntarily creej)ing over him, jiroduced by 
a want of congeniality of spirit with everything he 
comes in contact with ; he is led, in short, to sigh for 
those ennobling elements or inspirations, so peculiar 

to the LAND OF FREEDOM. 

But to my city gossiping. Went down Broad-st. 
one day, to the post-of!icc, which is in one part of the 
custom-house, and is situated at the foot of Broad, on 
East Bay-st., at the north- west corner of which, is a 
sort of public square or grounds, devoted to i)ublic 
business. Saw there collected, a great concourse of 
people, citizens, countrymen, seamen, strangers, specu- 
lators ; also, doctors, deacons and divines ; all appar- 
ently interested in the sales of a public auction, where 
some $400,000 worth of Adam's redeemed race, 
were placed on the block and struck off to the highest 
bidder. I shall never forget that sight — viz : the first 
slave auction I ever attended ; no, it was written on 
my memory as with a pen of iron, never-to-be-for- 
gotten, 

" While life, or thought, or being lasts, 
Or immorality endures." 



126 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

For the first half hour I was all eyes, all ears, and 
all attention — then there came over me a sickness at 
the heart, a faintness through the whole system, fol- 
lowed by three-fourths of an hour's weeping ; yes, 
nature found vent in tears, and I had neither power 
nor inclination to suppress them. I retired from the 
scene, went inside of the custom-house, up a flight of 
stairs, and there wept alone, for about forty minutes, 
and prayed at the same time, for these poor, afflicted 
down-trodden people. But the scenes of that day — 
how shall I describe them ? Scenes that were acted in 
a Christain city, under the waving of the stars and 
stripes, and on one of the battle-fields of our own 
revolution ? Scenes which I saw unblushingly acted 
in broad day -light, in sight of heaven, earth and hell. 
Scenes for which I may but pray never to be brought 
in as an evidence against, in the last day. There were, 
I should judge, from 300 to 500 of these human cat- 
tle, brought on for sale, consisting of men, women and 
children, from the sleeping, helpless infant in its 
mother's arms, to the hoary headed matron and sire of 
80 or 100 years, I saw driven into the slave shambles 
— ^not of an Asiatic market, but of an American 
City, and sold for life to the highest bidder, of these 
CHRiSTAusr Eepublicans, Deacons, Doctors, Di- 
vines, (fee. 

The sale commences — two fierce looking men mount 
a table, or low bench, (the auctioneers) and cry out, 
"gentlemen, the sale is now to commence." Jed, Jack 
or Joe, they sing out to their own servants, "bring on 
group No, 1, and place them on the stand." The next 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 127 

moment up come three stout looking men, two women, 
and II little boy some five years old. 

"Gentlemen," says the leading auctioneer, " here is 
a likely group of field hands, as good as ever entered 
the cotton fields of any man's plantation, worth twelve 
hundred dollars, each, except the cub, and he will soon 
be worth that ; how much for them ? how much ? 
Do I hear $8,000 for the group? Five thousand are 
bid — five thousand, five thousand, only five thousand 
are bid for this valuable stock of six niggers, do I 
hear no more ? Gentlemen this property is to be sold, 
it must go at some price — five thousand five hundred 
— five thousand five hundred are bid — six thousand — 
going, going, at only six thousand. Are you done, 
at six thousand? six thousand five hundred — 
seven thousand, who says eight thousand ? Now is 
your time ; seven thousand five hundred is announced 
— seven thousand five hundred, that is it now, who 
for the odd five hundred, and make a clean breast of 
it? Seven thousand five hundred, once, twice, are 
you all done at seven thousand five hundred dollars, 
going, going, gone — at seven thousand five hundred." 

"Now bring up group No. 2." And in less than three 
minutes, you behold a sorrowful-looking .gi'oup, con- 
sisting of a man and woman, husband and wife, and 
parents of eight children, as follows : a son of about 
20 years, a daughter of some eighteen years, another 
of 16, a third at 14, another boy of some 10 or 12, 
and down along to a sleeping infmt on its mother's 
breast. Oh, what a sight to behold, that father at the 
head of his dear, dear family, all paraded on that 



128 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

block, in a straight line — ^his wife next to liim, and 
the cliildren next to her. To see his cheek turn pale, 
and his teeth fairly chatter with fear, not of the lash, 
nor of being the gazing stock of gaping thousands, nor of 
any sort of mal-treatment to his own person. No, but 
the prospect of soon seeing his family separated and 
scattered to the four winds, through a life long period ! 
Oh, that was what harrowed up his very soul, and 
made his sable cheek turn pale. And that mother, 
too, entered largely into the same feehngs of grief and 
terror-stricken anguish, at the near prospect of so 
cruel and so common an event. The tear stole down the 
eye of the eldest daughter also. But soon they all 
went off together, at a single bid to one man, but he 
a negro drover, I suppose who will undoubtedly sell 
them off singly, or as he can meet with a customer. 

Next came on the stand a single one, and she a 
young woman of about 20 years, good looking, healthy 
and stoutly built. Said this im23 of satan, the auc- 
tioneer, placing his hand on her breast, " gentlemen," 
said he, "there is not another such breast in all Charles- 
ton ;" whether he meant to make an appeal direct to 
some of the w^orst elements of human nature, I cannot 
say, but this I do say, she was soon struck off, at a 
round price, to a good judge of this kind of stock. 

Now that old woman and girl, James, do you hear, 
boy ? And up comes an old woman, of about fifty, 
and her daughter of some twenty. Now, gentlemen, 
how much for these two ; do I hear $2,000 for the 
couple ? Eight hundred for the girl, sings out a man 
in the crowd. $800 for the girl, responded the 



I 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 129 

auctioneer. Will you say $1,600 for both? No, 
don't want the old woman, won't luivc her. Well, 
$800 for the girl— $850, $900, $950, $1000, $1,100, 
$1,200 — going, gone at $1,200. A few moments more 
the mother goes for $900, one in one direction, l,he 
other in another direction. The daughter weeps aloud, 
and the mother cries ; but it is of no avail. They are 
separated, perhaps, until the trump shall sound. 

BOARDING WITH .AJT EX-CLERGYMAN. 

On arriving in this city, I stopped a few weeks at a 
boarding house kept by an ex-clergyman ; quite a 
pious man for a slave-holder, that is, in his own esti- 
mation. He requested me to accompany him to his 
church one Sabbath ; I did so. It was a sacramental 
occasion. To that church belonged, I think, 300 
whites, and 600 or 700 colored communicants ; to the 
whites, the preacher applied the term brother, or 
brethren, who were all seated below; but the col- 
ored, who invariably occupy the galleries here, he 
addressed them in the following terms: " my friends 
of the gallery," which is the way they always do. 
During the singing of the last hymn, I picked up my 
hat and walked out to avoid an invitation to commune 
with them ; for I had made up my mind not to do so 
with these clerical dealers in human chatties. Per- 
haps I had a wrong spirit. I did not feel right, that is 
certain ; — though not angry, nor piously mad, as some 
term it, but I felt as Dr. Bond used to say, extensively 
provoked, at the religious working of the institution. 
6* 



180 SLAVEEY UNMASKED. 

After dinner, being seated in the parlor witli the 
other boarders, though a httle modified in my feehngs, 
jet I was keyed up to a half savage point, and let 
out a few notes of the real New England t3'pe, simon 
pure ; just enough to make the hak of my pious host 
stand up like the bristles of a full grown porcupine. 
I said enough to mob 40 men better than I am ; but 
it would not look very well for a minister to do so on 
the Sabbath day, especially to a boarder ; so I came 
off a mighty deal easier than the young Yankee allu- 
ded to in a previous number, who was treated to a coat 
of tar and feathers astride of a rail, for a similar offence. 
Said I to my clerical host, I do not, I cannot have the 
same fraternal feelings — that brotherly affiliation for 
you here, that I have for my brethren north. Why 
not ? Because, I answered, you buy and sell the body 
of Jesus Christ. You make merchandise of human 
beings, men, women and children. Said I, I do not 
know how you can interpret the golden rule on gos- 
pel principles, and be slave-holders. How would you 
like, continued I, to have a race of men come here as 
much superior to you in knowledge and power, as you 
are to your poor slaves, buy you or take you, and sell 
you, and your wife and children, into bondage, and 
you unable to help yourselves ? " Take care, take 
care what you say," said a young Bostonian boarder; 
" remember where you are ; we would not like to see 
a Yankee mobbed in Charleston." 

Well, I replied, I am only passing an opinion on 
the evils of one of the institutions of my country, 
and if I am mobbed for that, then so mote it be. I did 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 181 

not come here to attack soutliern institutions, it is health 
I am after, and not battle. 

But many a man gets mobbed in the south, for just 
expressing his opinions, and those opinions may be in- 
geniousl}' drawn from him for the purpose. As I stated 
in a former number, so I repeat here, that there are a 
few in the slave-holding states who are heartily sick 
of the institution, as it exists among them ; but they 
constitute such a small minority that they are utterly 
powerless, not daring oven to say their souls are their 
own on the subject openly. It has been my fortune 
to find a few of this class here, from whom I have 
gathered some interesting and important data. The 
following is one : a pious and intelligent lady, whose 
name I am not at liberty to give, but her remark upon 

a Mrs. of this city ; the facts in the case having 

passed under her own observation, I will venture to 
give. 

There is Mrs. , said she, a lady who was fore- 
most in every benevolent enterprise, and who* stood 
for many years, I may say, at the head of the fashion- 
able elite of this city, and afterwards, at. the head of 
the moral and religious female society here. It was 
after she had made a profession of religion, and re- 
tired from the fashionable world, said the lad}^, that I 
knew her ; therefore, I will present her in her religious 
character. This lady used to keep cowhides, or small 
paddles, (called pancake sticks) in four different apart- 
ments in her house ; so that when she %v'ished to pun- 
ish, or have punished any of her slaves, she might not 
have the trouble of sending for an instrument of tor- 



132 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

ture. For many j^ears, one or more of her slaves were 
flogged every day; particularly, the young slaves 
about the house, whose faces were slapped, or their 
hands beat with tbe "pancake stick," for'every trifling 
offence, and often, for no offence at all. But floggings 
were not all ; the scoldings and abuse daily heaped 
upon them all, were even worse. " Fools" and "liars," 
" sluts" and " husseys," "hypocrites and good for noth- 
ing creatures," were the common epithets with which 
her mouth was filled, when addressing them, adults, 
as well as children. Very often she would take a po- 
sition at her window, in an upper story, and scold at 
her slaves while working in the garden at some dis- 
tance from the house, (a large yard intervening,) and 
continually order a flogging. 

I have known her thus on the watch, continued my 
informant, scolding for more than an hour at a time, 
in so loud and boisterous a voice that the whole neigh- 
borhood could hear her; and this without the least 
apparent feeling of shame. Indeed, it is no disgrace 
among slave-holders, and did not in the least injure 
her standing, either as a lady or a Christain, in the aris- 
tocratic circle in which she moved. After a great re- 
ligious revival in the city, she opened her house for 
social prayer meetings. The room in which they 
were held in the evening, and where the voice of 
prayer was heard around the family altar, and where 
she herself retired for private devotion thrice each day, 
was the very place in which, when her slaves were to 
be whipped with the cow-hide, they were taken to re- 
ceive the infliction ; and the wail of the sufferer would 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 133 

be heard, where, perhaps, only a few hours previous, 
rose the voice of prayer and praise. This mistress 
would occasionally send her slaves, male and female, 
to the inquisition for more savage punishment than 
she could possibly inflict at her house. One poor girl 
whom she sent there for torture, was stripped naked 
and whi]i}icd so horribly that deep gashes were made 
in her back sufficiently large to lay my whole finger 
in them, — large pieces of flesh had actually been cut 
out by the torturing lash, I have seen it in the hands 
of the unmerciful inquisitors ; may God have mercy 
on them for it, for the devil never will. 

Soon after, she sent another female slave there to be 
imprisoned, and worked on the tread mill. This girl 
was confined several days, and forced to work the mill 
while in a state of suffering from another cause. For 
two weeks after her return, she was lame from the vio- 
lent exertion necessary to enable her to keep the step 
on this infernal inquisitorial machine. 

She spoke to me with intense feeling of this out- 
rage upon her as a woman. Iler men servants were 
sometimes also flogged at the inquisition ; and so ex- 
ceedingly offensive has been the putrid flesh of their 
lacerated backs, for da3^s after the infliction, that they 
would be kept out of the house — the smell arising 
from their wounds being too horrible to be endured. 
They were always stiff and sore for some days after, 
and not in a condition to be seen by visitors. 

This professedly Christian woman was a most awful 
illustration of the ruinous influence of arbitrary power 
upon the temper. Her bursts of passion upon the 



184 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

heads of her victims were dreaded even by lier own 
children, and very often all the pleasure of social in- 
tercourse around the domestic board was destroyed, 
by ordering the cook into her presence and storming 
at him when the dinner or breakfast was not prepared 
to her taste, and in the presence of all her children, 
commanding the waiter to slap his face. Fault-finding 
was with her the constant accompaniment of every 
meal, and banished that peace which should hover 
around the social board, and smile on ever}'- face. It 
was common for her to order brothers to whip their 
own sisters, and sisters their own brothers ; and yet 
no woman visited among the poor more than she did, 
or gave more liberally to relieve their wants. But 
her own slaves must feel the power of her tyrannical 
arm, and know and keep their places. Except at 
family prayers, none were permitted to sit in her 
presence, but the seamstress and waiting maids, and 
they, however delicate might be their circumstances, 
were forced to sit on low stools, that they might be 
constantly reminded of their inferiority. A slave 
waiter of the house was guilty on a particular occa- 
sion, of going to visit his wife, and kept dinner wait- 
ing a little. (His wife was the slave of a lady of the 
neighborhood.) When the family sat down to the 
table, the mistress began to scold the waiter for his 
offence; he attempted to excuse himself; she ordered 
him to hold his tongue • — he ventured another apology; 
her son then rose from the table in a rage, and beat 
the face and ears of the poor waiter so dreadfully, that 
the blood gushed from his mouth, nose and ears. 



SLAVEKY UNMASKED. 135 

This mistress, yoii will l)oar in uiIikI, was a professor 
of religion, tliat sou also; l)otli iiiotlicr and son, and 
the poor shive also, were all communicants of the 
same Church. What brotherly love is this ? 

Here you have a true picture of slave-holding re- 
ligion in the glorious South. 

SLAVES CHIEF WEALTH OF THE SOUTH. 

The wealth of the South is ])roduce(l by the slaves 
of the South ; they produce it, and their masters 
squander it. I now say that the chief wealth of the 
slave-holding States consists mainly in the slaves 
themselves, they being the chief operators here, conse- 
quentlv without them the most productive southern 
plantation would be nearly as valueless as the same 
amount of territory located in the deserts of Arabia. 
The valuation of southern slaves may safely be laid 
down at the average price of $1,000 per head. Some 
are held at $3,000 each, some at $2,000, and some at 
$1,500. I have seen them sold on the block in public 
for the last amount, and some very young babes, and 
others very aged will go at $200 a piece, but $1,000 
each is a fair average for the whole. 

Now, according to the late revised slave-holding 
statistics, which have been just given to the world 
by the proper authorities, I find the number of slaves 
belonging to the slave-holding States, to be 3,523,412, 
which sum, multiplied by 1,000, the average value of 
each slave, will give the entire valuation of this vast 
drove of human cattle, raised, bought and sold under 



136 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

the stars and stripes of this model Kepublic, which 
in hard dollars and cents will be no less than $3,523,- 
412,000. 

Just think of that. Our Southern neighbors and 
brethren, lawyers, planters, doctors and divines, are 
stock jobbers in human blood and bones to the 
amount of three billions, five hundred and twenty- 
three millions, four hundred and twelve thousand dol- 
lars. Oh my country ! What an amount to be 
invested in the bodies and souls of redeemed men. 
Great Sire of the universe, spare us as a nation the 
desolations of Egypt's accursed fate ! 

The valuation of property here is estimated among 
the Southerners themselves by the number of slaves a 
man owns. For instance, I called on a wealthy plan- 
ter one day, who resides in this city. After leaving, 
I inquired of one of his neighbors how much that man 
was worth. *' Why, he is rich," said the man, " he 
is worth 400 niggers." 

But to the descriptive part of this article ; and here 
I am forced to remark (notwithstanding all my sympa- 
thies are enlisted on the side of the poor slaves) that 
one of the most disgusting sights presented to a North- 
erner, in walking the streets of a Southern city, and 
one that meets him at every corner, not only in the 
streets, but on the quays, levees, and on all the public 
walks and squares, is the mighty, rolling, headlong 
mass, or tide of negro servants, male and female, 
black, brown and yellow, their squalid, filthy, careless 
appearance as they pass along, up and down, to and 
fro, now bearing you along in the press, now retarding 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 137 

your advance, now cutting your path at riglit angles, 
then comparatively deafening you with a loud laugh 
or a shrill whistle, is anything but agreeable to one of 
any amount of refined feeling. But the facts in the 
case are, the cruel, unnatural, debasing servitude in 
which these poor creatures have been bred has so 
effectually crushed and ground every ennobling prin- 
ciple of humanity out of them as to render them 
almost insensible to shame or fear, unless their master 
or overseer should chance to be close by. You en- 
counter them on the public walks from six in the 
morning until nine at night, and they are clad for the 
most part in the most fantastic style conceivable, from 
the gaudy household livery of a Southern nabob, to 
the tattered costume of a wandering Gipsy, many of 
them bare-headed, bare feet and legs, men, women 
and children. I have seen them during all the winter 
months, singing, whistling, chatting, running, jump- 
ing, and dancing along on the walks, with sundry 
other monkey shines too tedious to mention, with 
scarcely any regard to the thousands of whites they 
meet, unless it should be their overseers. One moment 
you run against one of them with a pile of wood on 
his head ; the next you encounter an old woman with 
a wash-tub half full of water on hers ; now you meet 
a grinning, bare-headed Topsy drawing a two- wheeled 
cradle, with some two or three white babes in it, sing- 
ing her lulaby to them, as unconscious, apparently 
so, of any other presence, as though she were in the 
centre of her mistress' nursery ; now a stocky woolly- 
headed chap passes you with a piece of board, some 



138 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

two by three feet platted on his pate, heaped up with 
fresh fish, singing out at a deafening rate, startling 
every disordered nerve in one's body — fish, fish, 
here's your good fresh fish. And then, to bring up 
the rear, and fully consummate your disgust, you see 
that hyena of the human race, the slave-drover, come 
up street with some two or three hundred men, women 
and children in a drove, some in chains, some in rags, 
and some half naked. All these are to be placed on 
the block on the morrow for public sale. 

I went to the house of a gentleman in this city on 
business ; and, by-the-by, it is not so easy a matter to 
obtain admittance into the house of a Southerner as in 
the house of a Northerner. You have in many cases 
first to enter a yard or inclosure, which is generally 
kept locked, then ring the bell at the door of the 
house a long time, and should the servant happen to 
be out or not near at hand, you might ring there a 
half hour or more before any of the whites of the 
family would open to you, though half a dozen of 
them might distinctly hear the bell. At this house I 
met a well-dressed, smart-looking house servant of a 
neighboring gentleman, who had preceded me at the 
bell by some five minutes. I came up, found him 
standing. No one came. I rang it also and no 
response, and so we had quite a time of talking. 

Said I to him, holding up a large book I had 
with me " would you not like to read this good 
book?" 

" No, Massa, can 't read." 

"What, you can 't read?" 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 139 

" No," said he, with a sort of sheepish laugjh, which 
went to say, " why Massa don 't you know better than 
ask such a foolish question as that ? why you might 
as well ask these donkeys of the streets if they can 
read as us niggers," 

'* Where do you live ?" 

" Down on street." 

" Who is your master?" 

" Rev. IMr. ." 

" What, your master a clergyman?" 

"Yes." 

" Well," said I, " I would not hear him preach ; a 
minister of the gospel who will bring up a man like 
you, and give him no chance to learn to read, I have 
no good opinion of his piety." 

The door opens and our talk is at an end. 

LOWER LAWISM. 

A St. Clair, or a little Eva, can scarcely be found in 
these parts, at least; it is possible they may be in some 
portions of the South. I have never met with them 
myself 

You may frequently meet with those whose exter- 
nal manner and deportment will indicate the refined 
gentleman — nay, the real Christian — whose conver- 
sation and treatment with strangers, especially those 
whom they consider worthy of their regards, are 
made up of an untold amount of urbanity and good 
humor, so that to the superficial observer, they might 
appear the rarest specimens of gentility and nobility 
of nature in the whole race. 



140 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

And it cannot be denied but there is a great amount 
of real refinement in the South, — in this city especially, 
such as the public, popular opinion of the world de- 
nominates refinement. But this polish is only the 
mere surface, it is all hollow-hearted, or nearly so, the 
result of a system of training, of tyranny reared upon 
the groans, sweat, and blood of more tlian three mil- 
lions of human slaves. Being bred to afiluence and 
wealth — with whom life is but a blank, to be filled 
up with sensual gratifications ; consequently, they 
find ample leisure to qualify themselves- — not for the 
practical purposes of life, but for these, their imaginary 
positions of refinement and honor, in which the practi- 
cal world finds them mere drones, — in some instances 
pests of society, and an incubus upon progress. There 
are, however, exceptions ; some of the Southerners are 
practical men, and would gladly revolutionize society 
for the better if they could, but they cannot, nor dare 
they scarcely breathe their sentiments aloud. But 
these men are few and far between. There is a great 
— a fearful want of moral principle among the South- 
erners generally, running through all their institutions? 
civil, social, and ecclesiastical. There are thousands 
upon thousands here, who suppose themselves good 
Christians — who imagine themselves the real follow- 
ers of Him who, when on earth, was the friend and 
companion of the lowly and down-trodden among 
men ; they* may be what they profess to be, I am not 
their judge. 

But there are some of the real genuine disciples of 
Christ, in the South, of the sable race, hundreds of 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 141 

whom I have seen in this State. In this city hun- 
dreds may be found — also, many a martyred soul 
has gone up from the CaroHnas to glory and to God, 
and doubtless many more will. One instance you 
will find in the following : — 

On the plantation of Mr. , in the upper part 

of this State, there was a slave — one of the discii)les 
of Christ, of the old school ; nothing could make him 
swerve from his allegiance to the great Teacher, llis 
master, though not a professor of religion, was not un- 
conscious of the superior excellence and integrity of 
his pious slave, and I believe he was so sensible of 
the good influence of his piety, that he did not deprive 
him of the few religious privileges within his reach. 

A gentleman from a neighboring plantation one day 
called to dine with the master of this pious slave, and 
in the course of conversation observed, that all profes- 
sion of religion among slaves was mere hypocrisy. 
The other asserted a contrary opinion, and added : "I 
have a slave. Sir, who, I believe, would rather die than 
deny his Savior." The idea was ridiculed by the for- 
mer, and the master urged to prove the assertion. He 
accordingly sent for pious Joe, who instantly obeyed, 
and appeared in the presence of his master and his 
guest. " Joe," said his master, " I command you to 
give up your religion, and here before us deny your 
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ." The poor slave, as a 
matter of course, begged to be excused, constantly 
affirming that he would rather die than deny the Ke- 
deemer, whose blood was shed for him. His master, 
after vainly trying to induce obedience by threats. 



142 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

unlike St. Clair, had Hm terribly whipped. But the 
fortitude of the martyr was not to be shaken in this 
way ; he nobly rejected the offer of exemption from 
further chastisement at the expense of destroying his 
soul, and thus the blessed martyr died in consequence 
gf this severe infliction. Oh, my God ! thought I — 
prayed I, as the feelings of my heart fairly choked 
their utterance, may I at last meet with so favorable, 
if not so triumphant an entrance into the heavenly 
world, as this, thy martyred servant who sealed with 
his life's blood his testimony for Jesus. 

The days of martyrdom have not taken their final 
leave of our sin-cursed world — thousands of martyred 
souls, it is to be feared, will rise in judgment against 
the institutions of Christian America, and condemn 
them ! whose souls are now under the altar, crying, 
"how long, oh Lord, will our blood be unavenged 
upon them that dwell upon the earth ?" 

They have a law in this State, which has been 
rigidly enforced in this port for years, viz : " Tliat no 
colored person shall enter the State, unless as valet de. 
chambre to some aristocratic nabob, or as cattle for the 
market. 

There came into port one day a fine looking vessel, 
freighted with West India goods, the captain and 
supercargo of which were both fine, intelligent look- 
ing men of color. 

The vessel was an English craft, and the captain 
and supercargo were English subjects, but they had 
not been in port two hours, when the notable of&cials 
of this Lower Law State arrested these subjects of Vic- 



SLAVERY UNMASKED, 143 

toria and thrust them into the Inquisition, where they 
were obliged to remain until one hour before their 
vessel should be ready to leave for another voyage. 

But to the hiquisitorial tortures ; and, by the way, 
they are constantly iin])roving in this mode (jf j)unish- 
ment. Through the instance of a friend of humanity, 
I was made acquainted, not long since, with a mode 
of refined torture invented by one of the fair sex of 
this city ; one, more dreaded by the poor slaves than 
the cat-o-nine tails, unless put on unusually severe. 

It consists in standing on one foot and holding the 
other in the hand. Afterwards, the following im- 
provement was made upon it by some of the far- 
sighted Inquisitors: A strap was contrived to fasten 
around the ankle, and pass around the neck, so that 
the least weight of the foot resting on the strap would 
choke the subject. 

The pain occasioned by this unnatural position, I 
need not say, was great ; and when continued, as it 
sometimes was for more than an hour at a time, pro- 
duced intense agony. I heard this same woman say, 
said my informant, that she had the ears of her wait- 
ing maid slit for some petty theft. She often had the 
helpless victims of her cruelty severely whipped, not 
scrupling herself to wield the instrument of torture, 
when she thought it was not put on severe enough by 
the one employed for that purpose. 

Her husband, it was said, was less inliuman than 
his wife, but he was often goaded on by her to acts of 
great severity. In his last illness, it is said, the poor 
girl on whose person he had inflicted some horrible pun- 



144 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

ishment, haunted his dying hours ; and when at 
length the king of terrors approached, he shrieked 
out, in utter agony of spirit : " Oh, the blackness of 
darkness, the blackness, I can see them all around me, 
take them away! take -them away!" and amid such 
exclamations he expired. Now these persons were of 
one of the first families in the city. 

Again, a Mrs. , of this city, I was informed by 

one who knew the particulars in the case, committed 
murder in the first degree, by starving a female slave 
of hers to death. She was confined in a solitary apart- 
ment, kept constantly tied, and thus condemned to 
the slow and horrible death of starvation. But little 
or no notice is taken of such occurrences here, no post 
mortem examination held over slaves in the South, as 
ever I saw or heard of. A horse, cow or negro dying 
produces about the same class of feelings among the 
generality of Southerners. 

But another sight more revolting still, which makes 
my very blood run cold as I think of it : " As I was 
traveling in the lower county of the State, some time 
since," said my informant, "my attention was sud- 
denly arrested by an exclamation of horror from the 

coachman, who called out : 'Look there Miss , 

don't you see?' I looked in the direction he point- 
ed and saw a human head struck up on a pole. "On 
inquiry," said she, " I found that a runaway slave, who, 
in consequence was outlawed, had been shot there, 
his head severed from his body and put upon the high- 
way, as a terror to deter other slaves from following 
in. his footsteps." Oh ! the tender mercies of slavery. 



SLAVEIiY' UNMASKED. 145 

For two or tliroc weeks past, there lias been raging 
a most destructive fire in the upper country, sweeping 
with terrific and destructive violence tiirough the j)ine 
forests of this State, destroying dwelHngs, depot'^, 
raih'oad tracks, thousands of bales of cottcjn, cotton 
plantations, "&c., &c. Cars, in some instaiices are stopped 
wholl}-, being perilous to human life to piuss through 
such oceans of fire as would be necessary to perform 
their daily trijts. 

THE PEOPLE OF CnARLESTON. 

The sontherners generally, and the Carolinians in 
particular, though very polite and much i-cfined, are, 
nevertheless, for the most part, a ver}- vain, pompous, 
aristocratic, chafl^y people. The extravagant notions 
they entertain respecting themselves, of their chivalry, 
prowess, heroism, &c., &c., will never be fully award- 
ed by those who are familiar with them ; sim]ilv, be- 
cause they have little or no foundation in matter of 
fact. B}^ so saying, I would not be understood as im- 
peaching either their bravery or ambition, or their 
southern blood, far from it ; for of these, when up, 
they have enough, though keyed upon the lowest 
tension. 

But this much I will say, that in a certain sense, the 
mn jority of them are ideal beings ; they live an im- 
aginary existence, the sober realities of practical life 
are too tame for them. To be seated in a large hotel, 
or some other place of public resort, with hundreds of 

these southern bloods, and listen to their talk for hours 
7 



146 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

togetlier, as I have often done, to a northerner, is more 
amusing than marvelous. Nay, the invidious compar- 
isons they often make between the south and the 
north — the pompous eulogiums pronounced upon the 
former — and threats against the Latter, of the possibili- 
ty of their yet being obliged to flog out the general 
government to obtain their rights, &c., &c., form quite 
interesting data for the notes of northern tourists. 

In flogging out the north according to their plan, 
the first move would be to carry the war into the cen- 
tre of Pennsylvania, then the New England states 
must fall, and all others would speedily fall into the 
hands of the victor, and thus a peace be easily con- 
quered, for the northern forces are all mobs, while 
those of the southern, are well drilled soldiers. 

A high spirited New Yorker chanced on one occa- 
sion to sit in hearing distance of the above sketched 
southern campaign into the north, and replied to them 
with no small emphasis, as follows : Gentlemen, said 
he, the city of New York alone can flog out your 
whole state. And I thought so too, and ship them all 
off to Liberia, or to some other place, white and black, 
in six months. 

The Carolinians are a very martial people. I never 
saw so many training bands in a city of its size in my 
life as in Charleston. Almost every other day you 
may see several military companies parading through 
the streets, with banners flying — drams beating, and 
bugles sounding. 

A single company of fifty men frequently have as 
many musicians as a whole regiment north, and they 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 147 

all colored men. Southern music is all performed by 
niggers, as they term them here — don't now recollect 
that I ever saw a white band south. The sight i.s 
rather novel to a northerner, to see about twenty col- 
ored musicians, all finely dressed, in rich military cos- 
tume, marching at the head of some fifty white soldiers. 
And by-the-way, they make better music, (being 
regularly taught by scientific teachers,) — than the 
whites, softer, more pathetic, more martial, more thun- 
dering, and more terrible, making the very earth trem- 
ble under you as they pass. The Carolinians are also 
a great pleasure-loving people. I mean such pleasures 
as arise from going to the theatre, the circus, operas, 
social parties, public balls, &c. The wealthy planters 
from the upper country, as they call it, the upper part 
of the State, may be seen pouring down to the great 
metropolis, this modern Corinth, for pleasure and re- 
creation, by scores, hundreds, and thousands; whole 
families, horses, carriages, house servants, and all — to 
spend tlic winter months as above remarked, in pleas- 
ure, revelling and sensual gratifications. This annual 
exodus commences about the first of November, con- 
tinuing until the following April. I have met scores 
and hundreds of these haughty planters at the Charles- 
ton hotel, and at other hotels of this city, and con- 
versed with them freely. "With scarcely an excejition, 
they are extravagant consumers of ardent spirits, 
though rarely or never to that degree as to disqualify 
them for a social, good-humored chat. Their liquors 
here, I am told, are of the choicest, purest, most ex- 
pensive quality, such as the aristocracy only can af- 



148 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

ford. Then when evening comes, to the theatre, to the 
theatre ! is the universal cry, and off to the theatre they 
go, by droves, and crowds, gray-headed, rosy-headed, 
and bald-headed. I had seen tumble out of the hacks, 
and omnibuses upon the steps of the theatre, male 
and female, from the age of fourteen to seventy years. 
There is a great, a wild, nay, an insane passion among 
this people for the theatre, as also for all the other 
mentioned places of amusements. They scarcely form 
a bar to church membership. From 7 o'clock at night 
until 11, some 25 or 30 carriages may be seen paraded 
in front of the theatre, horses, drivers, and servants 
waiting through these long, long hours, in the night 
air, for the concluding scene. Perhaps on the same 
night, and not more than 40 rods from this temple of 
Satan, a religious meeting is held, attended by only 
15 pei'sons, while some fifty or more of its communi- 
cants went to see Miss Julia Dean perform, or some 
other itinerating play actor show their heels on the 
stage. 

Charleston, without controversy, is the most fruitful 
soil for all kinds of public exhibitions in the whole 
Union. Those traveling panoramas of the North, 
such as the " Burning of Moscow," of "Niagara Falls," 
"Bullard's Panorama of New York," with "Ole Bull's 
Fiddle Exhibition," &c., &c., &c., all of which h.ave 
long since become stale at the North, have had full 
swing here, making tens of thousands of dollars. Great 
military balls, firemen's balls, and other public balls, 
are very popular, and very numerously attended here, 
several being held during the same week, and indeed 



8LAVEKY UNMASKED. 11'.' 

man}' on tlic same night got up at great expense, cost- 
ing not less, I sup})ose, than a $1,000 to $1,500 each. 
The supper alone of one of them, being prepared by 
the ladv Avitli whom I then boarded, she was to Iiave 
some five hundred dollars for getting up. 

The public races also come in for no very small 
share of attention among sinners and saints of these 
localities. The courses are about one and a half miles 
above the city. They embrace some 500 or 600 acres 
of very fertile land, well fenced in, all of which are 
exclusively devoted to this heathen practice, or to 
military parades and duelling. I never attended the 
races, and never would, but am informed that profes- 
soi-s do, not excluding even some of the clergy. It 
not unfrequently happens that 15,000 to 25,000 per- 
sons are in attendance at the same time, a large pro- 
portion of whom are ladies, convenient galleries being 
constructed for their reception. Here large wagers 
are staked, lost and won, won and lost, again and 
again. Drinking saloons are also mimerous on the 
OTound, and all well sustained. Through the chief 
streets leading to them, scores, hundreds and thousands 
of himian beings may be seen pressing along to the 
courses, running, hurrying, pushing, galloping along, 
some riding, some walking, some on horse back, some 
in hacks, some drayed by mules, some by ponies, some 
by donkeys, some by one way and some by another, 
and if there were half a dozen other modes of con- 
veyance, they would all be sure of n liberal patronage 
about these times. 

The annual cost of these Bacchanalian festivities. 



150 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

as near as I can calculate them, cannot fall much short 
of $1,500,000 worse than thrown awaj, the hard earn- 
ed toil, sweat and blood of the poor slave. I must 
further add that these Carolinian lords, are a lady -wor- 
shiping people, as much so as the knight errants of 
Spain during the Moorish and Saracenic wars. But 
in paying public devotions to the godess, they are 
exceedingly fastidious with regard to the color of the 
skin, and quality of the hair. Should the former 
chance to be a shade or two lighter than some of the 
imported belles of Europe, for instance from France, 
Germany, or Spain, with hair not quite so straight as 
the ringlets gracing the neck and shoulders of a Sem- 
inole Chief's daughter, then there is no divinity there. 
But should the skin be a shade or two darker, and 
the hair perfectly straight, the case is then mightily al- 
tered — divinity is legitimate there. In their secret noc- 
turnal devotions, however, these considerations do not 
amount to a cobweb. There is no hypocrisy, all 
is true, real, ardent devotion then. 

But to the ladies of the South. They, are, so far 
as my observations have gone, in appearance, a pret- 
ty, graceful, delicate, harmless, helpless set of pictures 
as I ever beheld. As much a blank in the practical 
world as the splendid images of the holy mother, so 
gracefully hung up in the halls of a Catholic Cathe- 
dral and other places. They are the most dependent, 
helpless, delicate set of adult beings, I will venture to 
say, that a man ever laid eyes upon. Total ignorance 
of all kinds of household work and temporal economy 
being one of the fundamental elements of their edu- 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 151 

cation — to be able to cook a meal of victuals, wash 
out a pocket-handkerchief, with similar other kinds of 
liglit work, would blast their caste, and send it up in an 
explosion, for aught I know. 

The remark, you know, has often been made to us 
Northerners by the southern people, viz : That the 
slaves could not take care of themselves, if once liber- 
ated ; but the proposition reversed would be nearer 
the truth. The whites of the South could not take 
care of themselves if once freed from their slaves; 
this they know, and feel; hence, the tenacity with 
which they hold on to the Institution. 

PASSAGE TO SAVANNAH. 

After remaining in Columbia a few days, being 
able to find little or nothing to contribute either to ray 
pleasure or profit, I returned to Charleston. The fact is, 
these is such a sameness in southern life that one soon be- 
comes weary with its monotony. It is negroes, mules, 
drays, and cotton-bales — cotton-bales, drays, mules, and 
negroes, the same thing over again and again, week 
in and week out, month in and month out. And I 
have good reasons for supposing it to be the same, 
year in and year out ; with a great many slave auc- 
tions, slave floggings, besides sundry other things of a 
similar character to boot. Though less monotonous 
than any other southern city I have visited, yet, even 
Charleston lacks those essential elements of stir, and 
life, to move the blood, and fully wake up a regular 
built down-easter. You may rightly judge, sir, that 



152 SLAVERY UNM-iSKED. 

six and a half months spent in this queen of the south, 
rendered me pretty familiar with her people, and her 
INSTITUTIONS. And why should I not ? Opening up- 
on ihem a huudi-ed piercing eyes at once, all of which 
were constantly employed by daylight and gas, in spj- 
out those wonderful, mysterious, and awful localities 
and institutions which make humanity blush and 
stand aghast — having fully satisfied my curiosit}^ re- 
specting the above mentioned Africo-Carolinian insti- 
tutions and people, I began to think of the more re- 
mote south, so I resolved to start. Taking passage at 
eight, A. M., on board the Savannah packet, for Sav- 
annah, Georgia, we arrived there at four p. m., of same 
day, a distance of eighty miles. Had a fine passage, 
and excellent accommodations, the fare being five dol- 
lars, same as cabin fare on first class Lake Erie 
steamers from Buffalo to Detriot, a distance of nearly 
three hundred miles. Savannah is situated on the 
left bank of the Savannah river, at about twenty 
miles distance from the ocean. In passing up the riv- 
er, I saw many rich and most beautiful rice j)lantations 
on either side; some containing, I suppose, two or 
three thousand acres each, all fenced in, and drained 
off by hundreds of ditches, crossing each other at 
right angles, for miles together, like the streets of a 
well laid out city. The tide comes sweeping up twice 
in ever}' four and twenty hours, flooding the whole 
fields when the proprietors wish them flooded; the 
water flowing off tlirough the sea drains. Works are 
also so constructed as to prevent the tide from flooding 
them, when so desired. 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 153 

Ilcre is where the poor slave and the shy alligator 
not unfivquently come to a fearful and deadly issue ; 
blood and life being often lost equally on both sides. 

A person has to see with his own eyes, these poor 
creatures wallowing houre together, half neck deep in 
these ocean covered rice fieUls, performing their cruel, 
laborious tasks, to appreciate some of the horrors of 
southern slave life. That Rev. gentleman way up in 
Boston, in his three months tour through the south, 
never saw this sight, I conclude, besides a thousand 
and one other horrifying illustrations of the institu- 
tution, that a murderous Arab of Sahara could but 
notice, were he here only half of three months. 

Now, Mr. Editor, I will tell you what I saw, it was 
something, I must say, that was neither instructive, in- 
teresting, nor honorable, in my opinion, to a Christian 
minister ; but something that amazed me, shocked me, 
nay it provoked me, because it came from a New Eng- 
land clergyman. Being one day introduced into one 
of the large libraries here, I sat down at a table which 
was covered with pamphlets and reviews ; on taking 
up one of them, I discovered it to be the New Eng- 
lander. And on opening it, at the table of contents, 
I saw an article called a review of a work entitled 
"The South Side View of Slavery, or three months 
in the South in 1854, by Nehemiah Adams, D. D. of 
Boston." I read it, and then said to myself, did this 
pious D. D. ever preach on the golden rule ? or did 
the great founder of Christianity ever call him to 
prciich deliverance to the captives ? Did he ever do 
it? In short, did the Holy Spirit inspire him to turn 
7* 



154 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

apologist for one of the foulest, most anti-Christian, 
and God provoking institutions that ever did, or ever 
can curse a sin-cursed world? 

No, sir, that book is not looked upon in the light of 
a God-send by any class here, and I doubt if it is any- 
where else, east, west, or north, by any living, hu- 
mane or semi-civilized human beings ; 'by none, it is 
presumed, except by the Eev. author himself, and that 
I very much question. 

The gentleman, no doubt, is solicitous as to how his 
work is appreciated in the south, and what opinion 
the good slave-holding people here have, of the piety 
of a minister of Jesus Christ, who could so far step 
aside fi-om his regular calling as to subserve the cause 
of human slavery. As to the former, I will unhesi- 
tatingly say, that though his book may be read by the 
southerners pretty generally, though a stenter to them, 
at that, but out of respect for the effort they will read 
it. Yet, Mrs. Stowe's celebrated Uncle Tom's Cabin, 
and Key — with similar other works of thrilling, mov- 
ing, awful interest, which stir mens' blood in their 
veins, and force the unbidden tear from their eyes, will 
be read, nay fairly devoured, root and branch, body 
and parts, by these very slave-holding southerners, 
old and young, male and female. While from the tame- 
ness of the "South Side View of Slavery," it will 
fall from their grasp for want of interest. He has 
taken the wrong side of the question to render him- 
self a popular writer among this peoj)le — as Napoleon 
used to say on some occasions, of his enemies, "they 
have not learned French ;" so we say of this Boston- 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 155 

iau southern author, ho has not learned the South. 
It is a great error to suppose, that writings of the 
character of our author in his "Southern Side View, 
&c.," will please the southerners ; it is true thcv will 
gratefully acknowledge the favor he has so gratitously 
tendered them in his work, the same as any other 
sinking world-wide reprobated cause would thankful- 
ly receive proffered aid from any direction. They 
will read his book, we say, and recommend it to theh- 
neighbors for perusal, simply because it amounts to a 
clank and chain plea for them, while at the same time, 
they will despise, from the bottom of their hearts, the 
man who is a northerner, and a professed minister of 
the Christian religion, who is wholly disconnected with 
an iNSTiTUTiox against which the whole civilized 
world has pronounced a just and righteous verdict of 
reprobation, and one they are beginning to be heartily 
ashamed of themselves. 

It is also equally erroneous to suppose, as many do 
north, that works as above remarked, like Uncle 
Tom's Cabin, Ida May, or the White Slave, and by- 
the-way, such as the great work just issued by Miller, 
Orton & Co., of your own city, entitled "Our World;" 
a perfect Cyclopedia of southern life, true to the letter 
— I have seen it ; it will be read here by thousands — 
I say, to suppose that works of this character will not 
take with the southerners, is a great mistake. It is 
true, they arc prohibited by law, and should a man pos- 
sess a sufficient amount of courage to offer them for sale 
here, he would soon have on a coat of tar and feathers, 
if not a halter, besides. And yet, these books are be- 



156 SLAVEKY UNMASKED. 

ginning to be read extensively in the South, and they 
will be read, law or no law. But where, or how, do 
they get them? I will tell you: a great many of 
these southerners go north in the summer season to 
Boston, New York, Niagara Falls, &c. So at the first 
good opportunity, after arriving in this book-maldng 
countrj', they step into a book-store, and obtan their 
supply. And when returning home, the whole family 
read the same, then they are lent to neighbors and they 
all read them from sire to chick ; and thus a single work 
like " Uncle Tom," may go through hundreds of fami- 
lies, and be read by thousands of individuals. Being 
one day in the Charleston hotel on business, I observ- 
ed a man trying to obscure himself somewhat, from 
the multitude, by drawing his hat partly over his eyes, 
and occupying a recumbent position, at the same time 
reading very attentively a book. Hours passed by, 
and he yet remained reading ; presently starting by, 
evidently to relieve his position, I saw in large capi- 
tals on the cover of his book, "Uncle Tom's Cabin." 
A very interesting work, sir, I remarked : yes, he 
rephed in a sharp quick tone, at the same time com- 
menced reading again, as though his life, if not eter- 
nal salvation, depended on what he read. This gen- 
tleman was a southerner. The lady, also, where I 
boarded, borrowed Uncle Tom, and she read it day 
and night, and night and day, until she had finished it. 
Her mother had obtained " Uncle Tom, as it is," a 
Buffalo work, an J a near kin of Eev. Dr. Adams' 
work, but it was too tame for her; she would not 
read it, at least then. A few Imes only sufficed — she 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 157 

threw it u]\ The master ruHng spirit of the other work 
had stirred up the great deep of lier soul, and she 
wanted nothing else on the subject, just then. But of 
my journey ; we soon landed, and I took a hack for 
the Pulaski house. 



CHAPTER V. 



COLUMBIA. 



Again I am on the wing. Breaking loose from my 
moorings in Charleston, at four o'clock last evening I 
took the night express train, and this morning at five 
we landed at the Capitol of this, our Star Republic. 
These Carolina express cars do not make so good time 
as some of our northern freight trains. The distance 
from Charleston to Columbia is some 1-10 miles, so you 
may judge for yourself the time they make. Thir- 
teen hours in going I-IO miles, a trifle over eleven 
miles per hour, and the accommodations on them are 
in perfect keeping. And all the workmen on board 
are negroes, except the Conductor and Engineer. 

But the country through which they pass, what shall 
I say of it ? The gloomy, dismal North Carolina pine 
forests I had thought was the jumping off place, or 
the parley grounds between the abandoned of our race 
and the tribes of old Pluto. But they cannot compare 
%vith the swamps of her sister State. No ; not so far 



158 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

sovitli geograpliically, morally, politically, or slave- 
ocratically. Why tlie physical appearance of these 
swamps is enough to frighten any white man, and 
scare any negro. Land of darkness, enchanted gromids, 
infernal regions, infested by more than 

" Goblin damned, or devil carnate." 

Here alligators, serpents, lizards, owls, jack-o'lanterns, 
mosquitoes, miasmas, and the wandering ghosts of 
murdered fugitives meet in nightly counsel with the 
angel of death, concocting schemes of vengeance 
against the cruel oppressor. For twenty, forty, and 
sixty miles together, the car-wheels appear to roll on 
bogs, quags, and bayous, down, down, down towards 
the dreadful world. I am sure if Pio-Nino's purga- 
tory can parallel this gloomy place, then I would turn 
Catholic, and go on a pilgrimage to some foreign coun- 
try a rehc-seeking, and relic-worshiping, to save myself 
from going there for a few short ages only, if that 
were to be the price of my liberation. For a white man 
to sleep out only one night in these swamps, I am told, 
is sure death, though a native Carolinian, but the col- 
ored people may do it with impunity. 

Columbia is a fine appearing small town, of about 
6,000 inhabitants, conspicuously situated on the summit 
of a large hill. It is very tastefully laid out, the streets 
being broad and all crossing each other at right angles. 
On either side, and through the centre of some of the 
main streets, large pahnetto and other trees, are seen 
gracefully waving their foliage, adding not a little to 
the beauty and pleasure of a morning walk. Some 
fine -Dublic buildings adorn the place, especially the 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 159 

new State Ilovise, — it is one of rare architectural beau- 
ty, being constructed of white granitic marble. The 
library, public records, documents, (See, «Sic., of the 
same, are of a respectable appearance, througli, mea- 
gre and very small in com})arison to many of our 
northern and eastern ones. Tiie hotels arc respecta- 
ble and well kept, no luxuries lacking on their tables, 
or attention wanting on the part of servants. But 
the bill is, to foot all of this ; the moderate sum $2,50 
per day will meet it in most cases. Railroad fiire is 
also exorbitant at the South ; from Charleston here, 
140 miles, the faro is $5,00 a trifle over three cents a 
mile. I have gone from Albany to New York, a dis- 
tance of 160, for $1,50 on the North River trains, 
minus one half the Southern rates. All of which, as 
a matter of course, besides a thousand things else, 
is to be laid to the account of the accursed institution. 
In this capital they also sell men, woman, and chil- 
dren under the hammer, away from their families, their 
churches, from the altar, and sacramental tables, where 
for forty long years, more or less, they have gathered 
around with kindred spirits for holy communion with 
God and each other. But the divine right of slavery 
contravenes and severs those hallowed Christain rites, 
steps in between God and man. Father and son, mo- 
ther and daughter, husband and wife, whom God hath 
joined together, the slave-holder claims the preroga- 
tive to sunder. Slavery knows no mercy, has no 
heart, no conscience, no soul, no bowels of compassion. 
No noble, God-Hke element ever enters into the con- 
stitutional make of any of the fraternity, (I was about 



160 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

to say. Do slave-holders really belong to the human 
family? Are they in the regular line of Adam's 
race ? Or, rather, were they not sired by some daring, 
reckless interloper, who from some infernal quarter, 
unbidden, introduced himself into this fair world of 
the Lord's creating, among men, and then palmed 
himself off as human ? And are not his descendants 
now playing the same game with the majestic world? 

The poor slave in these localities feels himself, if 
•possible, more hopelessly shut out from every pros- 
pect of freedom, than even in Charleston. For there 
the INSTITUTION, though walled up as high as heaven, 
or nearly so, against him, yet he flatters himself that 
possibly the time may come when some captain, sailor, 
or some other philanthropic person may be induced to 
help him off, to box, barrel, or in some other way, to 
pack, or sack him up as freight and ship him north ; 
which, by the way, has been done in more instances 
than one, as well as in some other ways that these 
blood hounds of the south have as yet failed to scent 
out. The people here are hard to be convinced that 
whole fleets of canoes can sail under water, or tha^ 
niggers can mount upon night clouds and make for 
the North Star, but scores and hundreds of them do 
get there, some how or other, and hundreds and thous- 
ands more will reach the north in the same way, if 
not in some other way. 

A circumstance occurred here previous to my arri- 
val, which I must not fail to relate, — a living, impres- 
sive illustration of the truth of the scenes depicted in 
Mrs. Stowe's immortal Uncle Tom's Cabin. It was 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 161 

related to mc by an eye witness of the whole scene, 
and he an iiitellifrent, rospcetable clergical •.'cntk-man 
of the north, a man whose word may be fully relied 
upon. The circumstanees, as he narrated them to me, 
were as follows : Said he, " One day as I was passing 
down one of the main streets of this city, I observed 
at a short distance in the advance a large crowd of 
men and boys collected, which seemed to be agitated 
and convulsed by some internal commotion. My 
curiosity led me to the spot to enable me to make 
minute observations with regard to the character and 
object of this collection. On arriving sufficiently near 
to see and hear distinctly all its movements, I saw two 
colored persons, a man and "a woman, chained to- 
gether. The woman was partly prostrate upon the 
ground, with a baby in her arms, but the man was 
standing up. A white man acting as overseer or dri- 
ver had hold of her, pulling, jerking her about to 
make her get up, singing out in an angry tone, saying 
"^get np you slut, you bitch, you she nigger, get up 
or I will kill you on the spot." At the same time lie 
commenced kicking, thumping and mauling her like 
a babbling donkey, and she crying, praying, and im- 
ploring, saying, " massa will kill, massa will kill me, 
you know he will, he did almos toder time, he will 
noo." Some of the bystanders would curse and kick 
her, saying, " damn her, kill her if she don't start soon. 
Finally said the overseer, '* if you don't start now I 
will hitch a chain to the mule and fasten it around 
your neck and snake you along like a log," and was 
about to do so, when a man, one of the chief citizens, 



162 SLAVERY UNMASKED, "k 






came along, and said, " wliat is this fuss?" then ad- 
dressing himself to the overseer he said, " take these 
niggers away, take them away, why you are kicking 
up a row ; no wonder," he added, " that Mrs. Stowe 
wrote as she did : be careful or they will have another 
book of the kind after us." Come to learn the par- 
ticulars in the case," said my informant, " they were 
simply these : the woman had a day or two previous 
left her master's plantation without his leave, having 
repeatedly solicited it, but as often been denied the 
privilege of going a few miles off to a neighboring 
plantation to spend a few days with her husband, and 
father of her child. She watched a favorable oppor" 
tunity, started and got as far as this city, almost there, 
and was thus cruelly arrested, as above stated, by the 
overseer — who, the better to secure her return, had 
brought along her brother, a slave on the same planta- 
tion, to whom he chained her for double security. But 
she stoutly bolted the back track, and hence the trouble." 
Her master, as near as I could learn from what the 
gentlemen had gathered, was one of this bloods royal 
of this LOWER LAW line, whose savage, ferocious soul, 
could equally sport with the groans, tears, sweat and 
blood of the poor crushed down slave, having beat 
her almost to death for the same offence on a previous 
occasion. As before remarked, in the course of these 
numbers, the life of many a poor, disconsolate, down- 
trodden slave, has been taken in the Carolinas, by un- 
feeling, unprincipled masters, not in cold blood, but in 
warm, infuriated, devilish blood. How many, God and 
the judgment record only can tell. 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 163 

With a companion I approaclied the wooden bridge 
across the river, where it cost five cents each to cross 
the river on foot — a fair specimen of tlie want of pub- 
He spirit and enterprise. We took a ramble on the 
left-hand side of the bridge. Here is a saw-mill dri 
ven bv steam, and attended by two negroes, who, to 
make us think they were doing a great business, said 
they were cutting 1,500 feet a day ; which at the rate 
they were sawing seemed exceedingly doubtful. A 
mill that would cut 1,500 feet an hour could be con- 
structed here with but little outlay. 

Further to the left is a large brick -yard, in whiqh 
the boiler and part of a steam-engine, together with a 
brick-machine, are exposed to the weather. They 
showed no symptoms of having been worn out, but 
are left to rust out — a sort of monument of folly — of 
an enterprise begun without the energy or capital to 
carry it through — a fair sample of the thrift of South 
Carolina. Finding ourselves here in anything but 
beautiful scenery, I naturally began to retrace my steps, 
when our path "was suddenly crossed by an individual 
the like of whom I had not before seen, but from the 
inimitable discriptions of Mrs. Stowe, we both recog- 
nized him as an overseer. He is a man of broad, 
coarse features, contracted and darkened brow, thick 
shoulders, bloated face and course black beard and 
hair. From the capacious side pocket of his large 
blouse there protruded the handle of a huge whip, the 
thong of which at the thickest part could not be less 
than an inch and a quarter in diameter. Certainly a 
single lash from such an instrument on the naked back 



164 SLAVEEY UNMASKED. 

of man or woman, white or black, would make tlie 
blood fly in all directions. As we were apjDroacli- 
ing, he stopped in the middle of my path and looked 
at me with a stare which none but a carniverous ani- 
mal, or a demon, could imitate. Knowing that I was 
on private property, and simply gratifying a l^ankee 
curiosity, I thought it good |Dolicy to be communica- 
tive, and accordingly accosted the gentleman with as 
polite a " Good morning, sir," as my sudden surprise 
would permit. Finding no response, I repeated. the 
salutation louder. At last he growled a query as 
to. what I said, which indicated an unwillingness to 
hear rather than an ignorance of what I had said. "I 
have been taking the liberty of looking round the 
brick-yard and want to see what kind of clay 3'ou have 
here." 

" A pretty place to take a walk with a lady, cer- 
tainly," replied he, suspiciously viewing us all over. 
" What State did you come from, pray?" 

As we were still within the brick -yard, and also 
within the reach of the whip, I did not think it pru- 
dent to mention Massachusetts just at that mo 
ment, and presence of mind serving, I promptly replied 
" Maryland — ^Baltimore City, Sir." 

" Oh, that is a slave State, I believe," said he, evi- 
dently relieved in his mind. At this moment the 
hard-contracted features relaxed, and the feeling of 
suspicion gave way to a sort of fellow-feeling. We 
felt deeply sensible of the honor ! He then began to 
utter oaths and imprecations upon the Abolitionists of 
the north, declaring that the sooner the question of 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 165 

slavery wns brought to a bloody issue the better. For 
his own part, he was willing to carry a twenty-eight 
pounder twenty miles on his own back, if necessary, in 
order to " fight the d — d Abolitionists." The negroes, 
he said, were kindly treated down here, and when they 
were siek on t]>e rice swamps they were so much cared 
for as to be sent into the u])per country to restore them 
to health ! Kice could not be grown without niggers, 
and therefore to abolish slavery would be to abolish 
the growth of rice in South Carolina ! Ue then de- 
fended the institution with the usual slang as to the 
blacks being better off in slavery in the south than 
in freedom in the north — being humaiiely cared for 
here, while in the north they are neglected or left to 
themselves ; and concluded his harangue by declaring 
his desire to dissolve the Union, in which sentiment I 
fully concurred, but for widely different reasons to his 
own. This concurrence of sentiment, however, in- 
duced a still better feeling, and he invited us to go to 
his brick-yard and see his niggers at work whenever 
the weather Avould permit. We thus parted on good 
terms, and the humanity which he had so emphati- 
cally described was lastingly impressed upon our 
minds as we glanced at his receding form, the rough 
severity of his outline, and the heavy cow-hide which, 
snake like, coiled around the handle projecting from 
his pocket. For such a man to speak of the humanity 
of slavery is highly instructive. It affords a solution 
to the inquiry, " What does humanity mean in a slave 
State ?" And when such terms as kindness and com- 
passion arc used, here, they should always be taken 



166 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

■wdth the qualification which, they necessarily ac- 
quire within the sphere of whips, bowie-knives and 
chivalry. 

Our next ramble brought us to a portion of the 
river between the confluence of the Saluda and Broad 
rivers (which unite two miles from Cc^lumbia to form 
the Congaree), and the long bridge before s]3oken of. 
It is a spot of rare beaut}^, commanding a fine view of 
the river which is here half a mile wide, and the two 
streams merging into one ; the whole being inter- 
spersed with wooded islands, so as to render it dif- 
ficult, in some instances, to distinguish them from the 
main land beyond. The water is exceedingly rapid at 
this point, and being slightly obstructed by a mill-dam 
of about three feet in height assumes here the form of 
a water-fall, the history of which we learned from an 
old negro who was on the bank of the river. This 
negro — fishing and sitting on a pile of firewood, 
the waterfall, a small bridge over a canal, and a grist- 
mill near by with its slowly-moving wheel, form the 
foreground of the landscape ; which is only limited by 
the distant forest and the soft blue sky — the Saluda 
on the one side and the Broad river on the other, 
rivaling each other in richness and beauty. The trees 
now, although mostly bare of foliage, are hung with a 
more than classic drapery of gray hair-moss, such as is 
seldom seen in more northern climates. The holly 
tree and the mistletoe are here in their prime. The 
holly has nearly the brightness of leaf and redness of 
berry which it has in England ; and added to that is 
this peculiarly graceful clothing of hair-moss suspended 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 167 

several feet from its boughs. Nothing at this season 
of the year cau equal the riehness of the holly 
thus attired. To oue who has gathered " Christmas 
boughs," loaded with crimson berries in the far-oflf 
*' mother country," it seemed like meeting the com- 
panion of our youth, still retaining much of virgin 
beauty, but now clothed in the habiliments of an early 
widowhood, which seemed to increase rather than 
detract from her charms. It is, indeed, appropriate 
tliat nature should wear a garb of mourniug in this 
location, as our conversation with the old negro plainly 
indicated. 

The old man looked up from his line as we ap- 
proached, and made a very pohte and respectful salu- 
tation, which we cordially reciprocated. The contrast 
of his behavior with that of his "superior," above de- 
scribed, was at once strikingly apparent, lie appear- 
ed to be about seventy years of age, and his curly 
locks resembled in color the gray moss which adorns 
the trees, llis attire, however, was excedingly dcfeo- 
tive, and the coat and pantaloons which constituted his 
suit were so patched and worn as to leave but slight 
traces of the material of wliich they once were made. 
It is probable that they were the cast-oil' clothes of his 
former master, a portion of which had been retained 
for more than twenty years, and had been kept to- 
gether by numerous patches, which in process of time 
have almost taken the place of the original material. 

"Are you a free man?" I inquired — for I never 
like to ask a man if he is a slave. 

"No, massa; 1 belongs to Mr. Hancock." 



J. 

168 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

" And how often does Mr. Hancock supply you 
witli new clothes?" 

The old man looked up with astonishment and said, 
" Me never gets any new clothes." 

" They tell me," said I, " that you slaves are very 
happy, and that you do not want your freedom. That 
you like slavery and do not wish to get away and have 
wages like other men. Is it so ?" 

" Dare not say what we feel about dat, massy. 
There are some thriftless colored men as there are 
white men, who do not like work, and would be lazy 
if they were free ; but we, who are not so, would like 
to have our freedom, but it won 't do to say so, 
massy." 

The old man was guarded in his expressions, evi- 
dently fearing that we might be quizzing him in 
order that his owner might learn of us whether he 
desired to make his escape. We therefore changed 
the subject. 

■ " There is a good strong current here, but they dp 
not use much of tlie power at the mill," I remarked. 

" No. There used to be a great Yankee dam liei'e, 
though," he replied, " but a few years ago a freshet 
washed it down, and since then it has onl}^ been a 
three-feet fall. It used to be eighteen feet, and a great 
business was done at the mill." 

This was another instance of decay. Here, within 
a mile of the capital city of South Carolina, is water 
power more than enough to grind wheat for all the 
inhabitants of the city, but it is allowed to run to 
waste. When it was in use, it was by Yankee enter- 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 109 

prise, and weutxJ}'^ the significant name of a "Yankee 
dam," but when loft to the care of a Southern miller, 
it is allowed to wa^li down its barriers and to sink into 
an insignificant, tliree-feet fall, onl_;^ a very small j)ro- 
portion of which is used lor })ower ! " It is no longer a 
•'Yankee dam;" it is a Southerner's dam, and is 
damned by the blighting influence of slavery. 

The old man narrated some facts in his own history. 
Three times had he been sold by his masters. The 
first time he fetched $1,200. He was then in his 
prime. He has now done his work, and cannot do 
more than help the men load wood on tlie wagons, as 
it is brought in an old boat from the opposite island. 
His ma.ster would now give him his liberty for $100, 
How magnanimous! Ave thought. After taking the 
man's labor for sixty years, without returning him 
any recompense, now that he is old and his work is 
done, and he could not be expected to maintain him- 
self another year, he may have his liberty — a liberty 
to starve to death with hunger and cold — for $100. 
We thought truly that the " humanity" of our seces- 
sion friend needed a qualification. One of his owners 
had, however, treated him kindly, and had even 
allowed him cyery Saturday night to visit his wife, 
who was residing three miles and a half distant. 
These visits he used to enjoy, but his wife is now sold 
away to a far distant plantation, and he docs not see 
her at all. His children are likewise separated from 
him, and he has none to administer comfort to his 
declining yeai^ Here is a man who has lived an 
honest life of industry and wearying toO ; bent down 



170 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

with age and sorrow ; his wife aud children sold away 
from him aud he is left alone in rags ! The man who 
owns him does not think him worth much, and conse- 
quently cannot afford to clothe him decently or comfort- 
ably, and when he dies he will die without any of his 
kindred to say endearing words to his departing spirit. 

At this moment the owner approached and w^e 
withdrew. Eambling up the hill away from that 
scene of solemn and melancholy grandeur, we espied 
a dusky object sitting on the corner of a bank, with 
her elbows resting on her knees and her face in her 
hands. As we approached she raised her head, and 
we saw that the traces of age were deeply marked on 
her face. Her teeth were all gone, her cheeks sunken 
in, and her forehead was deeply wrinkled. She could 
not have been less than ninety years of age. She was 
a slave-mother. "We stopped and she politely replied 
to our interrogatories. 

"Is that the only garment you have to Avear?" 

" Yes," she replied, " they give me plenty of corn 
to eat, but no clothes, and this is all I have. It has 
been patched a good many times and I cannot now 
see to patch it, so I keep it together as well as I can.'' 

The garment which appeared to form her only arti- 
cle of apparel was what had once been a cotton dress 
— probably the worn-out dress of a young mistress, but 
there were but few traces of the original to be seen, and 
the entire skirt was composed of innumerable patches 
of various hues, coarsely sewed together, evidently by 
some one whose sight was dim. In all our rambles 
in Europe, in the purlieus of London or Liverpool, we 



SLAVEUY UNMASKED. 17i 

never saw anything worn as a garment whicli could 
be compared to this as a specimen of wretchedness. 

"Where do you live, neighbor?" I inquired. 

" Jist up the hill, Sir; I lives in a shantcc bv my- 
self, and the}^ jist lets me have corn enough to eat, and 
that 's all." 

" How many children have you had ?" 

" Oh, I have had twelve childer, but they are all 
away. Massa sold them when they got big enough 
to work, and I have worked all my life in the cotton 
field. I think they ought to find me clothes to wear, 
but they do not, and I suffer a good deal from cold in 
the winter. I am been down to de spring for some 
water, and sat down here to rest myself. I have no one 
to fetch me water, and I don't know how to carry it. 
I have broken one of my bottle gourds, and can't get 
another myself. I am nearly worn out, and can't live 
long, thank God. I belong to Mr. Jones. He has 
been married three times, and the last is a young mis- 
tress, and she does not do anything for me. Some of 
my children have children and grandchildren now, 
but I have none near me to lend me a hand, so I has 
to fetch water and do everything for myself. I never 
sees any of them now ; they are too far off. I don't 
know where they are. They were sold to go into 
North Carolina, and I never hears from them now." 

" Have you any husband ?" 

" I had an old man, but he was taken away into 
Georgia, and I have not heard of him since. I sup- 
pose you pretend to be man and wife ?" 

" Do vou not believe that we are ?'' 



172 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

" No ; there are often people here as pretends to be 
married, and they are not. I guess you are not mar- 
ried. You can 't make me believe you are married." 

We were amused at this singular incredulity of the 
great-grandmother. It did not indicate a very ele- 
vated state of white society. The condition of this 
poor old creature, the mother of twelve children, and 
probably grandmother and great-grandmother to some 
thirty or forty slaves, is here left subject to the "hu- 
manity" of a young mistress, who does not give her 
any clothes. Suppose each of her twelve children sold 
for $500 — a very moderate estuuate — and the owner 
would realize from the "stock" thus raised no less 
than $6,000. The old woman had worked in the cot- 
ton-field some seventy years, and if her labor was 
worth only $100 a year beside her keep — a very 
moderate calculation — here was $7,000 more, making 
a profit of $13,000 as the proceeds of her miserable 
life; and now the men who have had the magnan- 
imity to take this immense sum from the sweat and 
toil and offspring of this poor decrepid old creature, 
have now turned her away to shift for herself on 
simply an allowance of corn, without clothes, and 
without a single child to comfort her in her lone- 
liness and feebleness. It matters not how soon she 
may be found dead in her comfortless shantee ; the 
sooner the better, as it will save the pittance of corn 
which she now consumes. The weather was mild 
then. It has since become cold, and if it continues 
severe it is not likely she can survive the winter. No 
matter; "She is only a nigger," and her work is done. 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 173 

As wc turned uway we noticed her two water vessels. 
They were the outer skin of dried gourds, cut so as to 
form water pitchers or bottles, and one was broken so 
as to hold but little water. 

The distant murmuring of that troubled stream is 
still on my ear; the trees dressed in the drapery of 
mourning still solemnly impressive of tli^ sad pictures 
of human misery which they cover with their shade ; 
the water-fall still speaks of the desolation and decay 
of a country blessed with natm-al advantages, but 
cursed with slavery ; the sad tales of aged victims 
which we have faithfully recorded from the lijxs of 
those who cannot write or print their own thoughts, 
serve very much to qualify in our minds the " hu- 
manity of slavery." May these scenes and sounds 
be likewise impressed on the liearts of freemen through- 
out our land ; may the fire of righteous indignation 
burn there so that the thought of extending this blight- 
ing curse to the fair valleys in our western territory — 
to the Kansas, the Neosha, the Arkansas — shall be a 
" thought that breathes" of action, of sacrifice, of valor, 
and of that stern determination to resist the wrong, 
which shall only cease when border ruffianism is de- 
feated and Kansas is free. 



CHAPTER VL 



SAVANNAH. 



Savannah is the chief city of Georgia, and second 
in size and business importance of all the Southern 
coast cities. As before remarked, it is on the left bank 
of the Savannah river, at a distance of some twenty 
miles from its mouth. It being situated on a gentle 
rise from the river, tastefully laid out, with broad 
streets, fine parks and public grounds, all of which 
are thickly shaded by rows of palmetto, cotton-wood 
and other shade trees peculiar to the country, give the 
city a fine view from a distance. In front of the 
Pulaski House, the chief hotel of the city, is a large 
public square, in the centre of which rises a beautiful 
colossal monument of snow-white marble, to the mem- 
ory of Count Pulaski, the noble Pole who heroically 
fell on the spot, in defence of Savannah, during our 
revolutionary struggle. I had not been in the city- 
long, before I went down to the old Fort, or to the 
place where it formerly stood, and pensively walked 
over the old battle ground, on which many of our 
forefathers slept their last sleep. Saw the very spot 
where England's mighty fleet landed their Anglo-Hes- 
sian legions, and fought their last battle in this State, 
for the subjugation of the South, and for the ultimate 
conquest of the revolted Colonies to her oppressive 
rule. 



. SLAVERY UNMASKED. 175 

My mind largely partook of tiie moody, melancholy 
type, as upon this battle field I coutemijhitcd the ter- 
rible scenes over which the ocean storms of eighty 
years have howled mournful funenil dirges; or by the 
assistance of a highly excited imagination, 1 kindled 
into existence those hardy actors of the startling, mov- 
ing, bloody drama, which rocked the hills anil siiook 
the plains on which I stood. Yes, for a few moments 
I imagined myself an actor in the midst of this fleet 
of arms, which told u])on the fate of Empire. I saw 
them all acted over again, in my imagination, moving 
columns, sabre charges, streaming banners drenched 
in blood, now horse and rider rolling in the dust, now 
whole platoons mowed down by the battle fire, and 
now iron masses of cavalry trampling on human skulls, 
as they dashed u}ion the foe, &c., &c. 

After the disastrous affiiir of Camden, the disgi'ace- 
ful flight of Gates and his aimy, British supremacy 
became pretty generally established in the Southern 
States. A heroic few, under Lincoln, being in the 
Carolinas and in Georgia, during the summer and fall 
of 1778, and in September of the same year, a large 
French fleet of over thirty ships of war, under D' Es- 
taing, was seen hovering along the coast, which finally 
landed, and disembarked about five thousand troops, 
which l)eing joined by those of Lincoln, made quite 
an imposing appearance, and a murderous onslaught 
upon the works of the enemy. They were all spread 
out and marshaled on this field. Here infantry, cavalry, 
and artillery all joined in the dreadful murderous 
melee, each working with telling effect those engines 



176 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

of death, wliicli liave sent whole continents of man- 
kind into the world of doom. Here a score of -^Etnas 
in miniature, open wide their death-dealing craters at 
once, pouring oiit livid storms of iron hail upon the 
advancing foe, melting entire columns into dust. Now 
thunder, tempest, and storm, with all the appalling 
concomitants of unmitigated war, roll over and sweep 
across this vast plain, agitating and moving the mar- 
shaled hosts that are met in mutual mm-der, then 
echoing along the basis of the distant mountains till 
lost amid the groans of the woimded and dying. 

On the ninth of October, 1778, just as the first scin- 
tillations of morning light appeared looming up in the 
eastern heavens, two columns, consisting of three thou- 
sand five hundred French troops, six hundred conti- 
nentals and three hundred and fiftj of the citizens of 
Charleston, opened the first scene of that bloody day, 
the results of which have long since been viewed in 
the light of sober history, and read by almost every 
school boy. A few minutes after that deadly charge, 
fifteen hundred warriors were robed in winding sheets 
of gore. Among those that perished on this field, 
none were more deeply regretted than Count Pulaski. 
But how changed the scene now ? A large and beau- 
tiful city, skirting the lefi-, a rich, well cultivated 
country on the right, while in front a spacious har- 
bor, filled up with huge ocean steamers and the- 
whitening sail of a thousand vessels, floating the world's 
commerce. 

No heavy cavalry tramp, nor beating drum, nor 
clanging steel, nor trumpet blast to the furious charge 



SLAVERY UNMAStED. 177 

is now hi'arcl, uo thundering ciuinon, nor deafening 
platoon discharges ; no dying groans, nor savage war- 
rior yet breaks upon the solitary silence of this hour. 
All is still, beautiful, silent, upon this spot of the 
sleeping warriors. I am here alone, with scarcely a 
sound in the distance to disturb my re very. 

The smoke of battle is all cleared away, the beauti- 
ful sun shines bright and lair on the llowery moss 
grown turfs that now so richly cover the gore-stained 
field, leaving not a solitary intlication of the solemn 
and awful realities involved in the history of these 
localities. No outward demonstrations that the wan- 
dering, shivering spectres of a thousand slaughtered 
warriors, nightly, though unperceived, march in ghost- 
ly platoons over this Held of blood in quest of their 
mutilated, mangled bones, now bleeching, or moulder- 
ing beneath its soil. It has been my fortune for the 
last four years, to stand on many a battle-field, but 
none of them seems to have thrilled me with the same 
peculiar emotions as this, and I can hardly explain 
whv. Perhaps it is owing to the peculiar state of 
mind into which I am thrown at this time, causing me 
more largely to partake of the contemplative type 
just now, than heretofore. Many of the poor Hes- 
sian, English allies, melted away on this field, before the 
murderous fire of the heavy French ordnance ; and after 
peace was declared between the mother country and 
her revolted colonics, a great number of these Hessians 
settled here, and became completely Americanized. 
Their descendants are good citizens, good Americans, 
good republicans. I board with one now in this city, 
8* 



178 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

a descendant of one of the old Hessian soldiers ; lie 
is a refined gentleman, a deeply intelligent man, a 
prominent citizen here, an officer in one of the banks 
of this citj. 

I have formed an acquaintance with a man here, 
who, some ten or fifteen years ago, was quartered in 
the barracks of this city as a United States soldier. 
From here he went to Mexico during the war, serving 
first under Gen. Taylor in several engagements. Then 
with Scott at the taking of Vera Cruz, and several 
other battles. He is a zealous Methodist; we often 
went to prayer-meetings together, and on an invitation 
one da}^, I visited the barracks with him, where a de- 
tachment of the United States army are quartered. 
He took me into the various apartments and showed 
me the rooms, halls, public buildings, guard-houses, 
parade ground, &c., &c. From the top of one of these 
public military halls he pointed out the spot where, 
some years previous, he saw a poor captured fugitive 
hung, for trying to effect his liberty, or liberation from 
bondage, 

I both looked at, and conversed with the soldiers 
of this institution, and observed what I saw at Fort 
Moultry, in Charleston, as well as in various other 
forts, and places of rendezvous for our United States 
troops, that a large majority of them are of foreign 
birth, Irish and German, and of course, Catholics, 
xigainst this as a native-born American, I feel stoutly 
to remonstrate ; it is a dangerous policy for our coun- 
try to pursue ; and we shall all of us see and feel it 
to be so soon. As great an evil as slavery is to our 



SLAVERY UNM.VSKEI). 179 

rountry, (and God and yourself, reader, know what I 
think of it,) it is not, nevertheless, the only evil in our 
midst. Popery is one which, from its very nature, is 
this moment assuming both a formidable and threat, 
ening position to the people of this Republic. While 
but few, comparatively, of all our millions, understand 
or appreciate its present aggressive position, the wealth, 
power and consummate trickery of the papal Church 
of Rome. And yet as Shakspeare says of Brutus — 

" He'd brook a devil to hold a scat in Rome. " 
So with thousands of our country, the leading politi- 
cians more particularly so, they would sell their birth- 
right, their liberties, their country, to hold a seat in 
Washington. I say this, not as a politician, for I am 
no such thing. I say it as an American citizen, and 
as a lover of God and of human progress. 

GEORGIA COLO^^Y AND SLAVERY. 

Being on a spot, where by the law of association so 
many historical reminiscences loom up before the eye 
of my mind, I can scarcely resist the temptation (as 
you will have seen by this time in former remarks) 
of entering a little into the history of the Georgia 
colony. Nothing particularly new, but yet not with- 
out interest, at least, to those of our readers who may 
never have got hold of the history of those times. 

General James Oglethorp, a valorous British soldier, 
and a humane Christian, was the founder of Georgia, 
and also of the city of Savannah. His first settlement 
was made in the year 1732, with a colony of one hun- 



180 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

dred and twenty persons, most of whom were poor 
debtors ; and says Lossing's history, " Oglethorp pro- 
posed to make his colony an asylum for the perse- 
cuted PROTESTANTS of Germany and other continen- 
tal States." He sailed up the Savannah river, to 
which he gave the name of that stream, for a settle- 
ment, until he came to a high bluff, where he landed, 
and after making a treaty with the Yamacraw Indians, 
established his colonists, and laid out a settlement on 
the site of this city. The excellent regulations and 
advantageous terms established by General Oglethorp, 
drew crowds of settlers to the new colony, and in 
about eight years Savannah had nearly three thous- 
and inhabitants. He formed advantageous treaties 
with various Indian tribes, he gave them presents, and 
they in turn gave him as much land as he wanted _ 
The Chief of the Creek nation presented Oglethorp 
with a Buffalo skin, painted on the inside with the 
head and feathers of an eagle, and made a speech which 
appears to have been prepared for the occasion, the ob- 
ject of which was to request for the Creeks the love and 
protection of the English. Soon after, Oglethorp re- 
turned to England, taking with him Tomochichi, king of 
the Creeks, vnih his queen and several other chiefs. 

The trustees of the colony offered land to the other 
emigrants, and more than four hundred persons ar- 
rived from Germany, Scotland, and Switzerland in 
1-735. Among these were some of the associates of 
the famous Count Zinzendorf, the Moravian mission- 
ary. Nor were these the only persons of religious 
notoriety who arrived in the colony during this year. 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 181 

The immortal "Wcslc^ys, Jolin and Charles Wesley, 
came also and joined the colony at this time. Soon 
after, they were joined by George Whitcficld, who 
labored and toiled with indefatigable efforts to estab- 
lish an orphan asylum, and partly succeeded. I felt a 
sort of veneration for the very ground on which I 
stood, as I thought of these great and holy men of 
God, who stood upon it and preached Jesus more than 
a hundred years ago. 

Readers of American history will remember the 
S{)anish interference exercised over Oglethorp's settle- 
ment, the war that ensued, the defeat of the Spanish 
fleet, and many other interesting matters, that space 
will not allow us to recall at this time. They will 
also remember the very active part taken by the in- 
liabitants of Georgia in our revolutionary struggle. 
In the city of Savannah and colony of Georgia, it will 
be remembered, were kindled the fires of liberty from 
glowing sparks wafted from the shores of Massachu- 
setts Bay. Such men as Joseph Habersham took tlie 
lead, and hundreds of staunch patriots soon followed. 
The King's Governor, Wright, was seized and con- 
fined under guard. Enthusiastic meetings, in favor of 
independence were held, and the strongest resolutions 
against kingly power and authorit}^ discussed and 
pa&sed. And when the Declaration of Independence, 
was received in this city, it was read under the " liberty 
pole," and saluted with a discharge of thirteen guns. 
That is the way Georgia patriotism existed in those 
eventful days. And her present sons are a patriotic 
people, at least so far as external demonstrations can 



182 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

make tliem so. I have attended some of the anniver- 
saries of her great events, celebrated in this city, and 
heard the defending thunders, and saw the heavens 
filled with the smoke of her martial fires, all of which 
were designed for ten thousand hurrahs for liberty; 
while for the life of me I could not suppress the con- 
viction that at that moment there were more native 
Americans, if not native Georgians, in this State, more 
terribly and more hopelessly oppressed, than were its 
white population of seventy-six, 

Alas ! as old Napoleon used to say, " what a strange 
being is man." Yes, slavery does exist in patriotic 
Georgia, dark as death and wicked as hell, and I know 
it to be so, for I have seen it with my own eyes, not 
only now, but I will tell you what I saw of it in this 
State (at the time,) 1854, and in the same places. Dr. 
Adams mentions in his "South side view of Slavery." 
In one of my rambles in this city, one day upon the 
levee, I saw a vessel discharging a cargo of grain. 
This was in January 1854. The hands employed in 
this work were some sixteen women and girls, each of 
whom carried about half a bushel of the heavy grain at a 
load, in a measure on their head. Not allowed to 
speak to each other, they were dressed in a coarse sort 
of woolen skirt, which constituted about their entire 
apparel. Some of them had the appearance of fifty or 
sixty years of age, while others looked not to be over 
thirteen or fifteen years old, but all looked mournfully 
dejected, sad and gloomy. With down-cast eyes and 
faltering steps they performed their degrading, un- 
womanly task, under the crack of the driver's whip, 



SLAVEKY UNMASKED. 183 

and sneers of gaping men and boys. One woman not 
exactly pleasing the overseer in all her movements, 
was reported to her owner, one of tiiese Georgia pa- 
triots; he said he would not flog her with the cat-o'-nine- 
tails, bnt would, nevertheless, give her something to 
remember for one while. And so he did, true to his 
word; he gave her a lesson for a life-long remem- 
brance, one that she will doubtless carry to the bar of 
God, and present in the last great day, as a burning, 
withering evidence against him, and the whole con- 
fraternity of pro-slavery men, north and south. He 
took her to one of those southern lower-law inquisi- 
tions, where there was an implement or machine of 
refined torturing capabilities. The following is a des- 
cription of it: It consisted of a pump, set in a deep 
well, in which the water rose to within some nine feet 
of the surface. The spout of this pump was elevated 
at least lourteen feet above the earth, and when the 
water was to be drawn from it, the person who worked 
' the handle ascended by a ladder to the proper sta- 
tion. The water in this well, although so near the 
surface, was, nevertheless, very cold ; and the pump 
discharged it in a large stream. The woman was 
stripped almost naked, and tied fast to a post that 
stood just under the stream of water, as it fell from 
the spout of the pump. A man slave was then order- 
ed to ascend the ladder and pump water on the head 
and shoulders of this poor victim, who had not been 
under the water full more than a minute and a half, 
before she began to cry and scream in a most heart- 
moving manner. Then she began to exert her strength 



184 SLAVERY UNMASKED, 

in the most convulsive tliroes, in trying to escape from 
her fastenings ; but they were unavaiUng efforts ; as 
well might the hopeless victim of a Eoman cross, 
while spiked fast to the wood, have disengaged him- 
self and fled from his executioners. After a -minute 
or so more, her cries became weaker and weaker, until 
finally her head fell forward on her breast; and then 
the man was ordered to stop pumping. She was then 
removed in a state of insensibility to her quarters, but 
recovered her faculties during the course of the day . 
The next day, though nearly deranged, and amazingly 
weakened, she was ordered to her task. 

I also saw a very respectable young mulatto man 
stripped to the skin and bound fast to a whipping 
post, and there, amid a large crowd of jjeople, flogged 
most savagely, drawing blood at almost every cut, and 
then the wounds washed over with salt and water, to 
prevent putrefaction and death. 

Now facts, you know, are stubborn things, most un- 
mistakably so ; they speak out with a tongue of fire 
sometimes, which burn their way through the con- 
science way down into the heart and soul, of even slave- 
holders occasionally, and sometimes of slavery apolo- 
gists also, though rarely, for they are the hardest of 
the Uvo. Now it is the force of these glaring, burn- 
ing facts, which stare me in the face and eyes at almost 
every step I take, by night and day, in this land of 
bolts and chains, which compel me to write so differ- 
ent a story from my Eev. friend of Boston. " Let 
truth be told, thousrh the heavens fall." 



SLAVEUY UNMASKEi>. IbO 

SLAVERY AND ITS APOLOGISTS. 

You liavc often read, talked, and also written spirit- 
edly, and elaborately on the great stirring question of 
the age, called Amehk'AN Slavery. But let me ask, 
did you ever sec it? touch it? handle it? or in 
any other way come into such fearful proximity with it 
as to be obliged to involuntarily close your eyes, brace 
up your system, and fairly chew your tongue to pre- 
vent it from uttering sentiments which if out, would 
have made you a martyr in a moment ? Ah ! reader, to 
write a cool jdiilosojihii'al treatise on the nature and 
management of revolutions in one's quiet room and 
alone, is quite another thing than to witness and brook 
its headlong, maddening masses, amid the roar of bat- 
tle; at least, so thought M.Guizot, premier of France, 
in 1848, as he saw the roll of its smoke overtopping 
thrones, armies, and nations, and like an avalanche of 
fire bearing everything before it. 

And so with yourself, cloistered up snugl}^ in 
your studio, reading, writing, and canvaSvSing the re- 
lative merits of the institution, though ever and anon 
becoming not a little excited as a vast array of testi- 
mony comes pouring in upon you from the four winds, 
bearing directly and heavily upon the dark institution. 
There you think you know something of it; you see, 
at least in your imagination the funeral pile, the som- 
bre flames, the smoked vi(itim ; then you seize your 
pen, and write out lines of light, in words of fire, just 
as you should, and s;Mid them blazing, burning, around 
the orbit of our common northern. But allow me to 



186 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

say, as of tlie theory and practice of revolutions, so 
also of the system of slavery ; one has to be an actor, 
or spectator in either, fully to ai^preciate the appalling 
power of desolation involved in their internal ma- 
chinery. Yes, reader, you will have to, if you never 
have yet done so, comedown here personally and look 
the thing fully in the face and eyes. You must see the 
chain-gangs, the whipping-post, the cat-o'-nine-tails. 
You must visit the inquisitions, and their dungeons of 
torture, and the slave-auctions, where parents and chil- 
dren, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, are 
parted to meet no more. You must also go on the rice 
and cotton plantations, into the sugar mills, &c., &c., 
besides a great many other things you must see, that 
paper and ink are inadequate to describe, in order fully 
to know the horrible system. 

But that will hardly pay, for one is sufficiently 
shocked at his own home, more than a thousand miles 
remote from the theatre of this reign of terror, at the 
more than dramatic facts borne to his ears by every 
breeze of heaven, without exposing himself to the 
fearful gauntlet run of picking them up. 

While here, I made the acquaintance of several in- 
telligent, observing gentlemen from the north, from 
New York, the New England States, and elsewhere, 
who had resided here for several years, in various 
parts of the State, on business ; and who, as a matter 
of course, having resided here so long a time, became 
perfectly familiar with the institution— have seen it 
m all its various phases ; and by-the-way, they look 
upon it with other eyes than the green specks of sla- 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 187 

very worn by Dr. Atlams in his soutliorn tour. Tlioy 
saw the monster as it was, and as it now is, and de- 
tested it as they saw it, just as civilized, liumanc peo- 
ple do, who are disconnected with it, exce})t some 
northern slavery apologists, who can " strain at a gnat 
and swallow a camel." 

And now, reader, after pausing a moment in roflec- 
tion, I took up my pen to soften a little, if possible, 
the manner or terms in which I referred to the 
production of a titled author ; luit in view of which 
I pen my apology, in the following terms, viz : 
I have no apology to offer for openly attacking titled 
men, and their works of injurious tendencies, be they 
whomsoever they may. Especially such works as 
anti-Uncle Tom, or " Uncle Tom's Cabin as it is," 
audits twin brother, the "South side view of Slavery," 
the direct tendencies of which are, if possible, to per- 
petuate the immorality of this curse and incubus of 
our federal government, and to envelope us hopelessly 
in the gloomy night of the dark ages, the north, as 
now reigns throughout the whole South. 

Now reader, tell me, will you, what are titles ? What 
are names ? "What are men ? What are principles ? 
Though lumbered up in musty folios, or hawked 
through the land in embossed octavos, with D. D., or 
LL. D. &;c., appended to the title page, unless they can 
Stand the test of the word of God, reason, and com- 
mon sense ? Why sir ! don't you think that I can see 
'as far into a mill-stone as a doctor of divinity can? 
Coimt oat the drops of the ocean as soon ? And as 
readily compute the number of moments entering into 



188 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

the diu-ation of God? I have the vanitj^ to think I 
can, although incapacitated morally, physical!}' , and 
every other way, of appreciating the beauty, form, 
and symmetry of this southern, time-honored, Bible- 
cherished institution, as some of them. 

No, I am not yet prepared to get down on my 
knees to half of the time-honored institutions of this 
world. Like Napoleon the great, I would rather that 
jDublic opinion would prostrate itself at my shrine, than 
that I should before it, in some cases, at least. 

Now, I am not going to give my readers the whole 
code of my moral ethics, but only a sentence or two. 
I set down at my desk, take up a book and open to 
term legitimacy, and then opposite to its interpreta- 
tion as made by the popular exponents of tlie age, I 
write cobweb, and then pen down the following pro- 
position, viz : I hold that to be legitimate only which 
results in the greatest amount of good to mankind 
generally, whether effected through the instrumentality 
of a D. D., an LL. D., an A. M., a superannuated 
blacksmith from the back-woods of Nova Scotia, or a 
Jim Crow from the rice swamps of Georgia. 

I am not battling titled divines, far from it : for 
there are a great many deeply pious and intelligent 
men among them, many of whom are my warm per- 
sonal friends ; but where any of them bring their doc- 
torate to bear upon the anti-slavery cause, and usq** 
their endeavors to prop up tlie peculiar institution, let. 
them take what follows ; what they deserve from our 
great northern pulpit, the press. 

And now, in conclusion, a word or two on the anti- 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 189 

" South Side View of Slavery, " or " Slavery, as it 
is," iu the South, And to commence, 1 make the 
following assertion, viz : that men, women, and chil- 
dren, in bondage in this State, and through tl'.e South 
generally, are, for the most part treated worse, with 
more brutal severity, than men treat cattle in the north. 
It is true, some of the slaves are seldom or never 
whi|)ped, and so some favorite horses and other dumb 
brutes are not. But these cases are exceptions to the 
general rule, and these merciful masters would, were 
their slaves to make an attempt at freedom, most un- 
doubtedly inflict on them the most sunnnary punish- 
ment. 

I repeat the declaration, that the slaves here in 
general, are more cruelly treated than the dmnb brutes 
are. And here is proof iu point ; men do not tie up 
their cattle and give them a number of lashes at a 
time, as they do the slaves. They strike them, it is 
true, when iu a passion, or when the cattle do not go 
as fast as they desire them to. And they also strike 
the poor slaves in the same way. But, besides being 
flogged now and then, cattle are not tied up to a post, 
or whipping block, and receive from fifty to five hun- 
di-ed lashes with a cat-o'-nine-tails, drawing blood at 
every blow. 

Besides, dumb beasts have thick hides, covered with 
hair, to defend them ; consequently the lashes do not 
give them so much pain as they do human beings. 
Just reflect for a moment upon the slender, delicate 
make of the human body — how thin and sensitive its 
sl^iii — ^liow quick it feels the pain of a blow. 



190 SLAVERY UJSTMASKED, 

Did you ever see cruel men whip horses until the 
blood ran down their backs ? Did you ever see them 
put salt on the stripes to increase the j)ain of the poor 
victims ? Did you ever see drivers whip their horses 
until they fell down with faintness ? No, I know you 
never did; I am sure if a man were to do so in the 
north to a poor dumb brute, he would be fined, if not 
imprisoned for cruelty. But men, women and chil- 
dren, are whipped so here, hj the slave-drivers, and it 
cannot be denied. The " South Side View of Slavery" 
can never plaster over these facts and stains upon hu- 
manity. Now I appeal to you, reader, if it is not clear 
that slaves are here treated worse than common cattle. 

FOOD OF SLAVES IN GEORGIA. 

It is a general custom, wherever I have been, for 
the masters to give each of their slaves, male and 
female, one peck of corn per week for their food. This, 
at fifty cents per bushel, which was all it was worth 
when I was there, would amount to twelve and a half 
cents a week for board per hand. It cost me at least 
eight dollars per week upon an average, while I was 
south, for board. A peck of corn per week is all that 
masters, good, bad or indiiferent, allow their slaves, 
round about Savannah, on the plantations. 

One peck of gourd-seed corn is to be measured out 
to each slave once every week. With this they make 
a soup in a large iron kettle, around which the hands 
come at meal-time, and dipping out the soup, mix it 
with their hominy, and eat it as though it were a feast. 



SLAVERY IN. MASKED. 191 

In all other places where I visited, the slaves had 
nothing fro)ii their masters hut the corn, or its equivalent 
in potatoes or rice, and to this they were not permitted 
to come but orice a day. The custom was to blow the 
horn early in the morning, as a signal for the hands 
to rise and go to work. When commenced, they con- 
tinued to work until about eleven o'clock, A. M., when, 
at the signal, all hands left off, and went into their 
huts, built their fires, made their corn meal into 
hominy or cake, ate it, and went to their work again 
at the signal of the horn, and worked until night, or 
until their tasks were done. Some cooked tlieir 
breakfasts in the field while at work. Each slave 
must grind his own corn in a hand-mill after he has 
done his work at night. There is generally one hand- 
mill on every plantation for the use of the slaves. 
Some plantations have no corn ; others often get out. 
The substitute for it is the equivalent of one peck of 
corn either in rice or sweet potatoes, neither of which 
is so good for the slave as corn. They complain more 
of being faint, when fed on rice or potatoes, than when 
fed on corn. 

On Mr. R 's plantation, to save time, the fol- 
lowing course was taken : Two crotchcd sticks were 
driven down at one of the yards, and a small pole 
being laid on the crotchets, they swung a large iron 
kettle on the middle of the pole, then made up a fire 
under the kettle and boiled the hominy. When 
ready, the hands were called around the kettle, with 
their wooden plates and spoons. They dipped out and 
ate, standing around the kettle, or sitting upon the 



192 SLAVERY UjS^MASKED. 

ground, as best suited their convenience. When tliey 
had potatoes, they took them out with their liands, 
and ate them. As soon as it was thought they had 
sufficient time to swallow their food, they were called 
to their work again. This was the only meal they ate 
through the day. So I was informed by the overseer, 
Mr. M., a northern man, who, by the way, was getting 
heartil}^ disgusted with the iniquitous institution. 

Now think of the httle, almost naked, and half- 
starved children, nibbhug upon a piece of cold Indian 
cake, or a potato ! Think also of the poor, suffering 
female, just ready to be confined, without anything 
that can be called convenient or comfortable ! Think 
of the old toil-worn father and mother, without any- 
thing to eat but the very coarsest of food, and not half 
enough of that ! Then think of home, surrounded not 
only with the comforts but the luxuries of life. 

When sick, their, physicians are their masters and 
overseers in most cases, whose skill consists chiefly in 
bleeding and in administering large portions of epsom 
salts, when the whip and cursing will not start them 
from their cabins. 

PLAJS^TATIOX-SIDE VIEW OF SLAVERY. 

In my last, I showed the quality of food on which 
these human cattle, called slaves, are kept. I will now 
picture, or try to picture out, the places in which they 
live, are born, cradled, sicken and die. And may 
God forgive me if I draw a dark picture, (I will not 
stretch the truth, as there will be no need of it), and 
make some hard comments upon it. 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 193 

The hovels or huts in whieh these poor beiugs 
spend the few hours of release from the toils of the 
field, and the lash of the ckiver, are for the most part 
of the poorest kind. They are nothing near so gopd 
as the Irish shanties on our nortliern publie works. 
Not so good as the most of northern farmers would fur- 
nish to their dumb beast.s. The following is the style 
of architecture : — 

Four crotched posts are driven into the ground, say 
ten by fourteen or fourteen by eighteen, poles stretched 
across these from post to post, then sided up with 
rough boards, and partially roofed in the same way. 
All of which are minus stoves and chimneys; some, 
however, have a very rude apology for a fire-place in 
one end, and a board or two off at that side, or on the 
roof, to let out the smoke. Others, for the want of 
something in the shape of a fire-place, make their fire 
up in the centre of the hovel. None of these buildings 
have more than one apartment in them, and the only 
opening through whieh a human being may pass in 
and out, serves for both window and door. 

In warm weather, especially in the spring and sum- 
mer, the slaves keep up a smoke, or fire and smoke 
both, all night, to drive away the gnats and mosquitos, 
which are very numerous and exceedingly trouble- 
some in all the low country of the south, so much so 
that the whites are obliged to sleep under frames with 
nets over them, knit so fine that the mosquitos cannot 
fly through them. I have seen hundreds of these poor 
things in the streets, or on the plantations, for hours 
together, barefooted and bareheaded, male and female, 



194 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

old and young, during the winter months, toiling like 
beasts of burden. Some of them have rugs to cover 
them at night during the winter months, but more 
hsSve none. I have seen them lie down on the hard 
floor or cold ground, like an ox, after a da}- of sweat 
and toil, with neither bed, pillow, nor straw to rest their 
weary bones upon. 

During driving and terrible storms, which not un- 
frequently sweep with almost tropical violence over 
these low and marshy plains, they are obliged to run 
from one hut to another for shelter. In the coldest 
weather, where they can, they get wood and stumps, 
and keep up fires all night in their huts, and lay 
round them with their feet towards the blaze. Men, 
women and children are thus promiscuously piled in 
together, in most cases, like the cattle in the stall. 
Their houses are generally built compactly on the plan- 
tations, forming a sort of village of huts. I have, from 
a single stand-point, stood and counted as many as fifty 
of them huddled up in a compass not exceeding forty 
square rods. 

I repeat, in these miserable huts the poor slaves are 
herded at night like swine, without any convenience 
of beds, tables or chairs. Oh ! tell it not in Calcutta, 
publish it not in the streets of Constantinople, lest the 
Mahommedan and Pagan world should blush over 
Christian barbarism. To see the aged veteran of an 
hundred years, as I saw here, a man who fought in 
the wars of our Eevolution under Washington, as he 
told me himself — to see not only him, but scores like 
him, clothed in rags, beating off swarms of gnats and 



SLAVEUY UNMASKED. 195 

raosquitos in the warm weather, ami .sliivcring over a 
bed of coals in the winter, is a burning stain upon a 
civilized nation and an outrage on humanity. As for 
wearing apparel, their mastere make it a practice of get- 
ting two suits of clothes for each slave per year — a thick 
suit for winter, and a thin one for summer. They also 
provide one pair of northern-made sale shoes for each 
adult slave every winter, which lasts them but a few 
weeks before they rip to pieces and give out. The males 
and females have their suits from the same cloth for 
winter dresses, which appear to be made of a mixture 
of the coarsest kind of cotton and wool, mostly uncol- 
ored, and of a sleazy^ spongy texture. The entire suit for 
the men consists of a pair of pantaloons and a short sailor 
jacket, without vest, hat, stockings, shirt, or any kind of 
hose garments / These, if worn all the while when at 
work, woidd not probably last to exceed two months ; 
therefore, for the sake of saving them, many of them, 
especially in the spring and summer months, work 
almost naked, male and female, looking too beastly 
brutal for a Christian country. 

On the whole, they are a poor, miserable, degraded 
race of beings in the very centre of our republican 
Christian America — worse off, and lower sunken, if 
possible, than the stupid heathen of any pagan land, 
from the fjict that the sunlight of Christianity and of 
civilization beams down upon them, which contrasts 
most unfavorably their con-liti'^i vith those of the pale 
race around them. 

God alone knows how much these poor, down-trod- 
den of our colored brethren suffer in our verv midst — 



X96 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

the day tliat cometli shall declare it — and then, wo 
unto the doers of wrong, to the oppressor, and to all 
who wink or blink, or in any way sanction or connive 
at this curse of curses. 

Why, it is enough to melt a heart of stone, to 
see these poor, ragged, half-starved mothers nursing 
their naked children, with but a morsel of the coarsest 
food to eat, and worn down almost to the fainting 
point, by the labors of the field. 

I overheard one of these great gentlemen slave-hold- 
ers, a few days ago, saying to another slave-holder : — 

" You ought to have seen me, a day or two since, in 
the midst of my niggers^ with a revolver in one hand, 
and a bowie-knife in the other, ready to take the damn 
life of the first nigger that disobeyed my orders." 

For the slightest offence, such, for instance, as not 
quite completing a day's task, the being caught by the 
guard or patrol by night, &c., thirty or forty lashes on 
the bare back is the penalty. One slave here, the pro. 

perty of a Mr. ■ , was whipped, I think one hundred 

lashes, for getting a small handful of wood from his 
master's yard without leave. The apology they make 
for whipping so cruelly is, that it may frighten the rest 
of the gang. These cruel men say that what we call 
an ordinary flogging will not subdue the slaves ; hence 
the most brutal and barbarous scourgiugs ever wit- 
nessed by man are daily and hourly inflicted upon the 
naked bodies of the miserable bondmen ; not by mas- 
ters and overseers only, but by the keepers of slave 
Inquisitions, the constables in the common markets, 
and jailors in their yards. 



SLAVmiY UNMASKKD. 197 

When the slaves are whipped, either in ]>uhlie or 
private, they have tlieir liands fastened b}- the \vrist.s, 
with a rope or cord prepared for the purpose. This 
being thrown over a beam, the limb of a tree, or some- 
thing else, the culprit is then drawn np and stretched 
by the arms as high as possible, without raising his 
feet from the ground or floor, and sometimes they are 
made to stand on tip-toe ; then the feet are made fast 
to something prepared for them. In this helpless, dis- 
torted posture, the monster in human shape flies at 
them, sometimes in great rage, with his imj)leiiient.^ of 
torture, and cuts on with all his might, over the shoul- 
ders, imder the arms, and sometimes over the head and 
ears, or on parts of the body where he can inflict the 
greatest torment. Occasionally, this devil^ the whipper, 
especially if his victim does not beg enough to suit him 
while under the lash, will fly into a whirlwind f)f pas- 
sion, uttering the most horrid oaths, while the bleeding 
victim of his rage is crying, at every stroke, " Lord 
have mercy! Lord have mercy!" The scenes exhib- 
ited at the whipping post almost beggar description — 
they are awful, terrific, and frightful to anv not lost to 
all feeling of humanity. Many masters whip, gouge, 
and dig into the flesh of these poor beings, until they 
are tired — until the victim bleeds like the slaughtered 
ox — then rest upon it. After a short cessation, get 
up and go at it again, and after having satiated their 
revenge in the blood of their victims, they sometimes 
leave them tied for hours together, bleeding at 
every wound. Sometimes, after being thus whipped, 
they are bathed in brine or siUt water, which adds 



198 SLAVERY UKMASKED. 

more and excessive pain to the raw and mutilated 
flesh. Occasionally they die under these savage and 
awful chastisements ; their bodies drop into the cold 
and silent grave, beyond the reach of the cruel driver's 
lash, and their spirits, I trust, go to a land of rest, and 
of eternal freedom. 

You will bear in mind that I am now writing of 
Georgia slavery, or of slavery in Georgia, the site of 
the " South-side View of Slavery." 



NEGRO SERMON. 

Unlike Charleston, the good people of this city allow 
their servants, and the free blacks, (there being a few 
of the latter here), to hold separate meetings, to have 
their own services, preachers, and places of worship. 
I had the pleasure of attending one of their meetings 
last Sunday, All the services were conducted by 
themselves exclusively, and it was a glorious meeting 
too, I will assure you. I find it both amusing and in- 
teresting to attend them, nay, it is moving, thrilling, 
electrifying, to place one's self under the influence of 
their powerful, God-like devotions. Here you see wor- 
ship performed unincumbered by cold and lifeless 
forms, uncompounded with a heartless religious eti- 
quette, and unadulterated by the pride, show, and 
pomp of this world, the bane of most of the modern 
churches. Worship that has a heart in it, a soul, a 
stirring divinity ; one that talks, breathes, burns ; one 
that made me think of the better days of our beloved 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 199 

church, north, when under the OLD SCHOOL worship; 
saints rejoiced aloud, and sinners wcjjt. 

By inquiry I found this chapel ; it was a Methodist 
churcli. There are, I am toUl, several colored Baptist 
churches here. The cha])el, as a matter of course, was 
situated way off in a by place. I went in and took a 
seat about midway up the aisle, a good position to 
see and hear both the preaching and singing. The 
preacher was in the pulpit, an African, dyvd in the 
wool, untainted by any mixture, — his face shone like 
a glass bottle or a polished boot, lie rose and gave 
out his hymn, it being that impressive one in our own 
hymn book, commencing with, 

"Go, preach my gospel, saith the Lord." 

Having read the whole of it, the congregation rose and 
commenced singing all over the house, unaided by 
tuning fork, or note book. And I will challenge the 
whole civilized world, with all their science, music, 
and books, to equal the music of that occasion. They 
would throw their heads back, close their eyes, open 
wide their mouths, and pour out a perfect flood of 
music, throwing one into delirious ecstacies without 
his consent. It had been a long time since I enjoyed 
so rare an occasion, since I saw so many smiling faces, 
and such a rich display of polished ivory as was ex- 
hibited by this simple-hearted, down-trodden people, 
in singing the high praises of God. There is some- 
thing in the African's voice so clear, melodious, 
moving, and captivating naturally, that we admire 
their singing ; but when the heart is filled with the 



200 • SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

love of God, and their passions all subdued by Divine 
grace, the pathos is completely overjDOwering. 

The preliminaries ended, the preacher rose and read 
his text : Second Timothy, fourth, first eight verses in- 
clusive — Paul's charge to Timothy. Having thus an- 
nounced his text, he looked round upon the congrega- 
tion, and commenced thus to soliloquize with himself: 
" A¥hy takeum so large tex for so few congregation ?" 
(It being in the forenoon when comparatively few can 
attend.) " Why preachum such subjic on dis casion? 
Why takeum not som smooth sweet tex ? Cas, " remark- 
ed the preacher, " lookum round on de wo-rl an on de 
Church, an on de eberywhar, an see de wickidnis, an 
de coldnis, and de great need ob the plain preachin of 
de sujic. Now," said he, " Paul was great man, do 
more for de Bible den any oder man libbin, ha was 
dazine, cut out, and reared up forum great posle ob de 
gentile. Ha preach great while eberywhar, da stone 
him, whip him, an las da kill him. Noo he babd a 
son ob de name ob Timothy, so de ole man, j us for da 
kjllum, writeum long letters to dis son, and say, (here 
he read a clause of the text,) ' Oh, Timothy my son, 
I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus, preach 
the word, take my place Timothy.' But my brodder- 
in what is it to preach de word? Why preach am 
Christ in de commanments, in de word, in de book of 
books, preachin him as great tonment ob de worl, and 
King ob de angils and de Jtldge ob de heavenly coun- 
ty to come." Here he quoted another clause of the 
text, ' reprove with all long suffering.' " Oh," exclaim- 
ed the preacher, " here comes de tug of war wid de 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 201 

poor preacher, be reproves de cliurcli-mcmbors for 
whol heap ob de little no-harm sins, an da sa da like 
him no mortal eas he no hisines lor dal, we i)ayum to 
preach de gospel, an no minem lie no bisness to," (A 
]iortion of the text again repeated or read,) " for the 
time will come when they will not endure sound doc- 
trine, but, after their own lusts, shall they heap to 
themselves teachers having itching ears," &c. "Now 
my Christian frins, I has no skilliton ob dc skoors, 
only I preaches right along. Noo dc time will come, we 
scover from de tex, when de people will be wors an 
wors, wickeder dan*noo an dats too bad eas da too wick- 
cilnoo. Den da no stan some preachin, da luss carry dem 
way off into de wicked worl, into de woUerin gin de dir. 
ty mire ob sin, to de drinking wisky, to de ball, to de 
quarillin an fightin gin, oh bad time dat. Den da 
turnum wa good preacher, who warnum ob da sins, 
an who sa de debel cochum by-and-by da no be better 
Christins soon ; den da gitum aloquint preacher, polis 
preacher to scratch da ears, da ears itch and da polis 
preacher scratcli da ears. So no longer stanum sound 
doctrine habum tickle ears so good. Oh de sweet 
preachin, da sa, sleep so nice in de meetin an habum 
ears scratch so nice feelum good, hab no more seole 
preachin. Noo da all rocken in cradle of caruil scurity, 
de blin leadin de blin, and da both fall in de ditch 
together. Oh de bad state ob de backslidin church 
when de ile ob de grace ob life go out forever. But," 
continued the speaker, " I specks to be judge by de 
deeds done in de l)ody, den who will be able to stan ? 
Will de proud church member ? No. Will dc whisky 



202 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

drinkin member? No. Will de figlitin, quarrelin 
cMirch member ? No. Will de proud polis preach- 
er ? No. Who den will ? lie tell you who — he who 
lobeum God wid all he heart, and he neighbor too all 
e while, an die wid de sweet grace er God in he soul, an 
go up to de kingdom foreber, he can stan in de judg- 
ment ob de worl to com." 

" Noo," added he, " dare be great many peoples be- 
longing to de church, who for twenty, thirty, or forty 
years lib good moral life, good peoples, da do no harm 
to nobody nebber, da git sick suttenly, takum tifot fe- 
vers, or some odder bad complainfe»in de head, an los- 
sum senses an die so. Noo case da no shout an holler, 
an talk a heap about de heavenly Canaan, de friens 
frade da no go up to de kingdom, da loss in de bad 
worl. Den on de odder side ob de quession, dare be 
great many peoples dat lib twenty, thirty an forty 
years, and serve da old massa Sattern, hard an de poor 
boys on de rise field, an da cotchum fever an die soon. 
But da repent in few minutes when de massa doctor 
sa do no git well gin, den da shout an holler, an sing, 
an sa da goum up kingum soon — da no talk ob dar 
twenty, or da forty years sins nuf, da talk to much ob 
de kingum for so long sinners. I tell you, my harrers, 
da served ole massa Sattern to good, da mus be judge 
corden to de deeds ob de body." 

His sermon occupied about an hour in its delivery. 
He said much more than the above, but it will suffice 
as a specimen. All his ideas were excellent, though 
clothed in his negro language and style. The whole, 
however, was eagerly devoured by hearers, as marrow 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 203 

and fat things. Only give them a chance and the in- 
tellect concealed under their sable covering would 
astonish the world. 



CATBAULING AND OTHKR MODES OF TOliTUKE. 

In a former page I stilted that the slaves of the 
south are treated with less humanity than the dumb 
brutes are. I here repeat the assertion with emphasis, 
southern cattle, oxen, horses, and d< )gs, are treated 
well, have enough to eat, arc not over worked, but 
southern slaves, great God! who shall describe the 
neglect, the sufferings, and sorrows, meted out to 
them from the cradle to the grave ? Were these poor 
people allowed their oath, they could testify to scen&s 
of woe ! of personal torture, that no pen or pencil can 
describe, that no white man is competent to express. 
And yet these horrible, thnlling, heathen practices, 
are so common in Georgia, as to excite little or no at- 
tention, among its citizens. On a rice or cotton plan- 
tation the evenings present a scene of reckoning, horror, 
and of blood. Those unfortunate ones against whom 
charges are preferred for non-perf ormance of their 
tasks, and for various other small faults, are obliged, after 
work-hours, at night, to undergo inquisitorial tortures. 

Reader, were you to take up your quarters for only 
two or three nights on one of these plantations, you 
would be waked from your slumbers, (if indeed you 
found sufficient quiet to sleep,) by the sound of the 
lash, the curses of the Inquisitors, and the cries of the 
poor negro, like a wail of woe piercing the dark mid- 



204 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

niglit air. Why, sir! could all the horrible tales of 
suiferings, murder, and death, of a single night on all 
the plantations of the south be collected in a single 
volume, it would thrill the Christian and barbaric 
world with emotions too horrible for endurance. A 
large proportion of the blacks have their shoulders, 
backs, and limbs, all scarred up, and not a few of 
them have had their heads laid open with stones, clubs, 
and brickbats, and with the butt-end of whips and 
canes; some have had their jaws broken, others their 
teeth knocked out, while others have had their ears 
cropped and the side of their cheeks gashed out. 
Some of the poor creatures have had their noses 
smashed in, and some have lost the sight of one, or 
both of their ejes, by the careless blows of the whip- 
per, or by some other violence. 

Among some of the modes of torture practised by 
the lower law people of this state, are the following 
refined specimens. Some tie up the poor victims in a 
very uneas}'- posture, where they must stand all night, 
then work them hard all day and torment them the 
next night. Others punish by fastening them down on 
a log, or something else, and striking them on the bare 
skin with a broad paddle full of holes. These blows 
break the skin, I should think at every hole where it 
comes in contact with it. Others when the ordinary 
modes of punishment will not subdue them, cathaul 
them. Now I will venture to say there is not one 
of my readers who knows what this cathauling means. 
I did not, until after having seen the institution, and 
stared the critter full in the face and eyes, though I 



SLAVEUV UNMASKED. 205 

had often lieard the term used before making my 
southern tour. 

The following is the modus-operanch of this irreli- 
gious, anti-human mode of torture. The hel])less vic- 
tim, perhaps a nursing mother, a beautiful quadroon, 
or an aged man, is bound fast to a post, or something, 
else, stripped naked, or nearly so, then a cat is taken 
by one of these state-right inquisitors by the nape of 
the neck and tail, or by the hind legs, and he drags 
the claws across the back until I'ully sutisliod. This 
kind of punishment is not only awfully exerueiating, 
but it poisons the flesh much more than the whi]), and 
is more dreaded by the poor slave than almost any 
other mode. Some are branded by a red hot iron, 
others have their flesh cut out in large gashes to mark 
them, &c., &c. Some masters fly into a rage at the 
merest trifles, and knock down their slaves witli their 
fist or the first deadly missile they can lay hold of — a 
shovel, hoc, ax -helve, cane, or any thing else within 
reach, not unfrequeutly killing on the spot. And, it is 
a wonder that ten are not killed where one is ! only 
for the fact that they are a great deal tougher than the 
whites, or a far greater porportion of them would be 
killed. 

A poor fellow ran away from a plantation a little 
above Savannah. The negro hunters and dogs were 
sent in pursuit, they got upon his trail, the dogs first ; 
these he fought, killing two of them, but the hunters 
coming up, shot him down. The pco])le rejoiced on 
hearing the news of his death, but lamented the death 
of the dogs, they being such ravenous hunters of 



206 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

liuman beings. Poor Sandy, he fouglit for life, liberty, 
and hapiness, like a liero, but the cruel rifle ball 
brought him down like thousands of others in similar 
circumstances. A strange negro can hardly walk the 
streets of these southern cities without molestation. 
A few days before I left Charleston, I saw a decent 
looking mulatto man going at a rate amounting to a 
trifle more than a fast walk — a man meeting him, 
doubled up his fist and knocked him down. Every 
colored stranger that walks the streets is suspected of 
being a runaway slave, hence he must be interrogated 
by every negro -hater and negro-hunter, whom he 
meets, and should he not have a pass, he must be im- 
mediatety hurried off to the jail or lower law inquisi- 
tion. And yet some "masters here boast to us north- 
eners, that their slaves would not be free if they could. 
This shows how little they know of their degraded, 
down trodden chatties who are kept under only 
through fear. They are all sighing and groaning for 
freedom, and will have it, some day or other, if they 
have to cut the throats of their masters to gain it. 

The day of reckoning is coming, the day of retribu- 
tion, and as there is a God on the throne, — and as there 
is equity in his moral government — these southerners 
will feel it soon, unless they let the oppressed go free. 
If they do not share the fate of Pharaoh and his armies, 
they will a similar one quite as summary, for ten 
thousand times ten thousand of thousands of prayers, 
sighs, tears and groans, will not plead in vain for them 
long, before the throne. No, we live in fast times, 
everything goes railroad and lightning speed "in these 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 207 

last trempnclous duvs," and retribution will not be so 
long withheld from a eruel, oppressing people, it may 
be presumed, as in the patriarehal ages; especially 
where so much liglit and knowledge exist as is to be 
found in our country. 

I repeat, the southern oligarchy, with its institutions 
of blood and groans, is a doomed thing. It contains, 
I have sometimes thought, the elements of its own 
final overthrow. Of this class of elements I can but 
barely speak a word now, as this paper is nearly full, 
but will endeavor to do so in some future number. 
Now, no northern toiu'ist can fail of observing that a 
new and powerful race is springing up throughout the 
entire south. A race which in physical and intellect- 
ual qualities far surpasses the native whites, in whose 
veins the Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-American blood 
flows. This race I shall term the Americo- African 
race ; the cross blood, or the mixture of the blood of 
the two races improves the stock, for cattle they are 
yet considered by the laws of this godless oligarchy. 
The increase of this race, with their brethren the 
blacks, is about four to one over the whites, and among 
them are to be found some most daring, shrewd and 
reckless fellows, Avho are prepared for almost any en- 
terprise. And yet these slave-holders blindly and se- 
curely sleep on, as though immortality were written 
upon the cherished institution, thus fulfilling the hea- 
then saying, " Whom the gods forsake they first make 
blind."' 



208 SLAVERY UNMASKED, 

PLANTATION LIFE CONTINUED. 

In speaking of plantation slavery as it is, one knows 
hardly wliere to begin, or at what point to leave ofif. 
The physical condition of plantatioi\ slaves is not ac- 
curately known at the north. And gentlemen traveling 
in the south can know nothing of it. They must 
make the south their residence ; (as I before remarked) 
they must live on ' plantations, before they can have 
any opportunity of judging of the slave and his real 
condition. I resided in South Carolina and Georgia 
some fourteen months, exclusive of traveling through 
portions of nine other slave states, and had I not 
made peculiar inquiries, and mingled with the slaves, 
which most northern visitors very seldom or never do, 
I too should have left them with the impression that 
the slaves are pretty well treated after all. Such is 
the report of northern travelers pretty generally, who 
have scarcely any more opportunity of knowing their 
real condition than if they had remained at home. 

What confidence could be placed in the reports of 
the traveler, relative to the condition of the Irish peas- 
antry, or the serfs of Russia who formed his opinion 
from the appearance of the waiters of a Dublin hotel, or 
the lackeys of the Czar at St. Petersburgh ? And yet 
this is the kind of testimony with which the north 
abounds respecting the condition of southern slaves. 
' Agents, mechanics, divines, gentlemen traveling for 
pleasure ; and almost all other classes of northern tourists 
are exceedingly gratuitous in this sort of testimony on 
their return from a southern tour. They may be 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 209 

honest in what they say; if so they liavc been most mis- 
erably duped by tliee/e67<<V^ q/'/S' /aye/-//, and liave yet to 
learn the A. B, and C. of the dark institution notwith- 
standing their tour through a dozen slave states. As 
I before stated I here re-assert, it is not often on ]ilan- 
tations even, that strangers can witness the pmiishnient 
of slaves. I was conversing once with a neighboring 
planter, upon the brutal treatinent of slaves I had 
witne.ssed: he remarked, that had I been with him I 
should not have seen this. " When I whip niggers, I 
take them out of sight and hearing." Such being the 
difficulties in the way of strangers ascertaining the 
treatment of the slaves, it is not to be wondered at 
that gentlemen of undoubted veracity should give 
directly false statements relative to it. But facts are 
tubborn things, and facts cannot lie ; what men see 
and hear with their own eyes and ears they know and 
do not guess at. 

I have secTi a woman, a mother, compelled, in the 
presence of her m^ter and mistress, to hold up her 
clothes, and endure the whip of the driver on the naked 
body more than twenty minutes, and while her cries 
would have rent the heart of any one, who had not 
hardened himself to human suffering. Iler master 
and mistress during this terrible flagellation were con- 
versing with apparent indifference. What was her 
crime ? She had a task of work which she must finish 
that day. Late at night she finished it; but it did not 
exactly suit the mistress, so she must be thus inhumanly 
whipped. The same was repeated three or four nights 
for the same offence. 



210 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

I have seen a man tied to a tree, hands and feet, and 
receive three hundred and five blows with the paddle 
on the fleshy parts of the body. Two others received 
the same kind of punishment at the same time, though 
I did not count the blows. One received two hundred 
and thirty lashes. Their crime was stealing meat to 
satisfy the cravings of hunger. I have frequently heard 
the agonizing shrieks of slaves, male and female, accom- 
panied by the strokes of the paddle or whip in passing 
along the streets. I knew not theii' crimes, excepting of 
one poor woman, which was stealing three potatoes^ to 
eat with her bread ! The more common number of 
lashes inflicted was fifty or eighty ; and this I saw not 
only once or twice, but so frequently, that my own 
heart was becoming quite hardened to these inquisi- 
torial tortures, and suffering endured by the poor down 
trodden slave. It was not always that I could ascer- 
tain their crimes ; when I could, I' learned the most 
common was non-performance of tasks. 

I have seen men strip and receive from one to three 
hundred strokes of the whip or paddle. For weeks 
and months together with short intervals, my nightly 
hours have been disturbed by the cries of the victims 
of cruelty and avarice. Ike, a slave of Dr. W. ob- 
tained permission of his overseer on Sunday to visit 
his son, on a neighboring plantation, belonging in part 
to his master, but neglected to take a "pass." Upon 
it being demanded by the other overseer, he replied 
that he had permission to come, and that his having a 
mule was sufficient evidence of it, and if he did not 
consider it as such, he could take him up. The over- 



SLAVEUY UNMASKED. liU 

seer replied he would take him up ; giving him a blow 
at the same time on the arm with a stiek he held in 
his hand, suffieient to lame it for some time. The 
negro eollarcMl liim, and throw him; and on the over- 
seer's eonimanding him to submit to be tied and whip- 
ped, he said he would not be whi])ped by lihn but 
would leave it to massa. I hajipened to be tltcrc. 
After the overseer had related the case as above, he 
was blamed for not shooting or stabbing him at once. 
After dinner poor Ike was tied and the whip given to 
the overseer, and he used it with shocking and terrible 
severity. I know not how many lashes were given, 
but from his shoulders to his heels there was not a 
spot unridged I and at almost every stroke the blood 
flowed. 

He could not have received less than three hundred, 
well laid on. But his ojBfence was great, almost the 
greatest known, laying hands on a white man I Had 
he struck the overseer, under any provocation, the lat. 
ter would have in some way disfigured him, perhaps 
b}' the loss of his ears, in addition to a whipping: or 
he might have been killed on the sj)ot. The negro 
has no other inducement to work but the lash ; and as 
man never acts without motives, the lash must be 
used so long as all other motives are withheld. Hence 
corporal punishment is a necessary part of slavery. 
Punishments for running away are usually awful in the 
extreme as shown in foregoing cases. Once whipping 
is not sufficient. 



212 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

BUSINESS ASPECT OF SAVANNAH. 

Savannali exhibits unmistakable signs of enterprise, 
refinement and wealth. Many of the dwelling bouses 
are spacious and' elegant, the stores are large and well 
filled. In the heart of the city everything imparts to 
the view of the stranger an idea of comfort ; but in 
the suburbs, the low, dingy, dirty, squalid cheerless 
negro huts, remind the northern visitor of the fear- 
ful price paid by one class to support another. 

The principal business is based on the great staple 
cotton. During my first visit to the place, nine trains 
came down the Central Eailroad daily, with from twen- 
ty to thirty cars in each train, loaded mountain high 
with this article. The depots and plank yards, cover- 
ing several acres, were groaning constantly under the 
immense burden, while long trains of horse teams 
were laboring for their relief, by drawing it ovet a 
plank road a mile or more in length, to the commis- 
sion house. Samples of the various descriptions of 
cotton are displayed in the ante-rooms of the stores, 
into which purchasers are introduced, and contracts 
are made so privately and quickly that it is difficult 
for a Yankee to find out whether any business is done 
at all. But the clerks are standing, silent, at their 
desks, dashing their pens for their lives. Bills, orders, 
checks and drafts, are exchanged, bales of cotton are 
passing into vessels from the wharves as fast and still 
as ripe blossoms from the trees in the spring time 
when shaken with a strong east wind, 

I spent more time in Savannah than in any other 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 213 

soutlicrn city. From tlii.s place 1 made my exoursiou.s 
for Inisiness or observation, or pleasure, and having 
accomplished the object in view, returned here again, 
to form new plans, or eom[)lfte my notes of slavery 
in city life. In short 1 made this a sort of point of 
appui, if I may use a military phrase, around which 
the operations of my southern tour were carried on. 
And it was fortunate lor my purpose that I took this 
course. For though the true featui'es of slavery may 
generally be seen in the country by passing through 
plantations, kc, &c., still it is not so easily seen in the 
city. It is only by a protracted residence, and a care- 
ful examination, that the real condition of the slaves 
can here be understood. And even then, there are 
many, who, having no special reasons for investi- 
gating this subject, know but little about it. I have 
known northern men who have lived in southern 
cities many years, without ascertaining whether slaves, 
belonging to families in which they reside, have 
wholesome food, or comfortable beds. 

A few weeks before I left Savannah lor the inter- 
ior, I boarded at the Marshall Ilouse. A friend of 
mine who had boarded there for several years, and 
who had become an advocate for slaver}'-, not having 
witnessed much of the privations and sufferings of 
slaves, frequently inquired of me if the slaves of that 
city did not appear to be in a better condition than 
the colored j)opulation of the north. And I was con- 
strained to admit that, so far as I had been able to judge 
from what I had seen, the slaves were very well cared 
for. But before I left that house, some facts came to 



214 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

mj knowledge, in relation to the treatment of slaves 
at the public boarding houses which astonished some 
of the Yankees who had been there for years. And 
the disclosures show that business relations afford the 
best opportunities for obtaining facts. 

Mr. L , of Maine, contracted with the proprie- 
tor of the Marshall House for a lease of those premises 
for a term of years. The keys were put into his hands 
on the third morning of January, 1853. When Mr. 

L , opened the bar-room door he found three of 

the male servants sleeping on narrow boards placed 
on chairs, the floor being sanded, without a pillow or 
a blanket. He opened the boot room, and there 
found two of the "boot blacks" in a room too short 
for them to lie down at full length with nothing but 
boots for pillows. In the kitchen, there were five fe- 
male cooks sleeping on the solid brick hearth. 

This fact was not disclosed to the northern boarders 
until this gentleman had taken charge of the house. 
My friend, though he had boarded there two years, 
had not known until that morning that Mr. Johnston's 
slaves had no beds. Mr. L. inquired of Mr. J,, " if 
there were no beds furnished and sleeping apartments 
appropriated to the slaves?" 

"No," replied Mr. J., "niggers never sleep on beds 
in any of the public houses in this State." 

I mentioned to a gentleman of my acquaintance, 
who was boarding at the Pulaski House, tliat we had 
made the discovery at the Marshall House that the 
slAes had no beds to sleep upon; to which he re- 
plied : — 



SLAVERY UXMASKED. 215 

" Mr. Johnston is a bnitc not to furnish his negroes 
with beds, for they have to work vcr}' hard here in 
the winter." 

" Do they have beds at your liouse ?" I asked. 

"Of course they do," was the re})ly. 

"Are you sure? because Mr. Johnston says they 
never have beds at the taverns." 

The next day my friend tohl me that he had asked 
the proprietor of the Puhiski House, what kind of 
beds were furnished for his servant^s. 

"Bedsl" exclaimed Captain W., "don 't you know 
that niggers never sleep on beds ? Put any one of my 
niggers on the best bed there is in the house, and he 
won't lie there half an hour. Niggers prefer sleeping 
on the floor." 

This was the largest hotel in the State, and its ])at- 
rons were among the wealthiest and most refined. 
There were some fifty slaves, or more, owned or em- 
ployed about the establishment, as it is necessary to 
have many more servants in a first-class hotel in the 
south, than in the north. And yet, this gentleman 
had boarded there some years, and having no special 
interest in making the inquiry, he had not learned 
that the slaves who waited upon him by day and 
night, were never provided with even such Ijeds as 
northern farmers furnish their horses. 

Northern gentlemen and ladies, who visit their rela- 
tions in the south, usually find them in the cities and 
villages, where they see the slaves enjoying the com- 
forts of a poor bed, and other privileges, which slaves 
in the country seldom, if ever, enjoy, and sometimes 



216 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

not in the cities, as above shown. Hence they are 
liable to form too favorable opinions of the condition 
and treatment of the slaves ; and they often honestly 
arrive at the conclusion that they are in a better con- 
dition than the poor colored population of the north. 

Sometimes one is allowed to inquire of the slaves 
themselves, how they fare. The answer, almost inva- 
riably, is, that they fare well — have kind masters — 
are contented and happy — do not desire their free- 
dom, if it can only be obtained by leaving the family 
of their master, and their good home, to which they 
are ardently attached, — and the inquirer decides that 
the northern Abolitionists have greatly exaggerated 
their sufferings. He does not know that the slaves 
have been 'educated to deceive in these matters ; and 
thus he believes they are contented and happy, simply 
because they say they are. 

At a hotel where I was boarding, in Savannah, there 
was a Christian slave named "John." His wife had 
been torn away from him and carried into the back 
country, a distance of twenty -five miles. John's affec- 
tions were so strong that he had "run away" several 
times to see her, though he was always whipped se- 
verely on his return. At last his master told him he 
must give up his old wife and take a new one. Accord- 
ingly he " bought a wife for John," and commanded 
the slave to regard and treat her as his wife. John re- 
fased to obey, and was whipped, again and again, but 
he did not yield. 

A northern gentleman, who was not acquainted 
with these facts, had frequently asserted that the slaves 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 217 

were happy, I suggested that inquiries be made <;f 
^^ ?ionest John," touching his domestic enjoyment. The 
bell was rung, and John came in. 

" Now John," said m}' friend, " I want you U) tell 
me if you would like to be free." 

" no, master, " replied John, quickly. I don't 
wan: to be free, no how." 

" Then you have a kind master, have you John ?" 

"Yes, I have a kind master, and don't want to be 
sold away." 

" Then you prefer to stay with your prc.'^cnt master, 
John, rather than be made free, or go to any other 
place to live, 3'ou say ?" 

" I reckon I rather remain here," answered John, 
because don't know what worse hands I may fall into." 

" There, now what do you say," said the gentleman, 
turning to me, "about the discontent of slaves?" 

"I think John has deceived you, sir," I replied. 

"How so?" 

" Has he satisfied you that he is contented and 
happy?" 

" Most certainly. I have no doubt he is so." 

" In this you are most egregiously mistaken, sir, and 
John sees it but he dare not undeceive you. I secured 
his confidence a few days ago, and he told me the story 
of his wrongs, and afflictions, and sufierings." 

"And now, John,'' said I, "will you state the facts, 
connected with your treatment on account of your 
wife, that my friend here, who is also your friend, may 
know the truth in this matter ? Speak freely, you 
shall not be betrayed." 
10 



218 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

John then tbrew off the mask, and stated the simple 
facts. The affecting storj would melt any heart ex- 
cept that of a slaveholder. The northern merchant 
acknowledged that he was never before so artfully 
deceived. And these false representations, which 
the slaves are compelled to make for their own se- 
curity, have kept northern men in ignorance of their 
true condition. 

A wealthy planter, from the interior of the State, 
was introduced to me, in the city of S., before I had 
traveled in the interior, for the purpose, as I after- 
wards ascertained, of deceiving me with reference to 
the treatment of slaves in his neighbourhood. 

I had been previously assured by a friend, that this 
gentleman enjoyed a reputation entirely above sus- 
picion for honor and integrity, and I could therefore 
place the fullest confidence in his statements. His 
manner and conversation aided to confirm a favorable 
impression of his reliability. 

During an interview, several topics relating to sla- 
very were discussed, and among others, the feeding of 
slaves. I inquired how the slaves were fed in his part 
of the State. 

He replied, " that formerly they were not so well 
fed as at that time. The planters," he said, "have 
found it more profitable to treat the slaves kindly 
and feed them well, as they would perform more labor, 
and take a deeper interest in their master's welfare. 
Therefore they have adopted a system of high feeding." 

" Do you give youi" slaves as much meat as they 
want, colonel ?" I inquired. 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 219 

" Afeatr said he, with a laugh ; " I food my liands 
on the best, most costl}^, and nutritious articles which 
the market affords, sueh as eggs, poult p}', fresh meat<«, 
butter, &e., and just as much as they are disposed to eat." 

" Indeed! And do your neighbors feed in tlic same 
manner ?" 

" Yes, sir, most of my neighbors feed in the same 
way ; and I can assure you that it is altogether the 
best way. Provisions are generally chca}) in this 
state, and hands that are well fed have better health, 
nnd do more work; and we find it to be the most pro- 
fitable way, after all, to feed well." 

I was really surprised at this ; and yet it was all 
true. But still it left a false impression on my mind, 
which I probably would have brought home with me, 
had I not afterwards visited the place where Colonel 
H. resides, and learned " the other side of the story." 
The " sunny side " gave me onl}^ halfi\\Q truth. When 
the other half from the " shady side " was brought to 
the light, and the two halves were joined together, 
the whole truth gave the fullest evidence that the 
slaves in that neighborhood suffered more by severe 
treatment from exacting, rigorous masters, than in any 
other part of the state. 

Let us walk in and see the slaves of the " reliable " 
col. n. Let us go into the huts, and out upon the 
plantations, and see with our own eyes a well fed, 
" kindly treated " family of slave.". 

" Whose field is that on the other side of the creek ?'' 
said a northern gentleman who was traveling with me, 
to a neighbor of Col. H. 



220 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

" That is a plantation of negroes the Coh hires this 
year, I believe," replied the " cracker." 

" Will there be any harm in om- going over there to 
see the boys work ?" 

" I reckon you had better go and see the Col. first,'^ 
answered his neighbor, " for he is mighty particular 
about allowing strangers around among his people." 

" Will you be so kind, sir, as to direct us to the 
Colonel's hoiise ?" said I. 

" Here comes his old boy, ' Monday,' now. He will 
show you up there, sir." 

"Thank you sir?" 

" Ho, Monday ! This way ! We want you to go 
and show us the way to your master's house." 

" Well, can't go now, master. I must go down to 
the store first, and get a gun for young master William. 
He is up at the school house you see there by the 
great tree, and he will tell you where the folks live." 

We passed on to the log school house, where, much 
to our joy, we found a yankee school teacher — an old 
acquaintance. 

The school was left to take care of itself awhile. 
I made inquiries respecting Col. H. and his slaves, re- 
peated the statements he made to me, and expressed 
m}- great surprise to learn that slaves were fed in the 
manner stated by him. 

" Ah ! there is another side to that story !" exclaimed 
the teacher. " That gentleman bet Jive thousand dol- 
lars last year that he could raise more cotton with his 
hands than a neighbor could with the same number." 

The truth now flashed upon me. I could see a 



SLAVERY UNMASKJuD. 221 

motive now for feeding liigh. The slaves were txD be 
driven hard. The man who coukl raise tlie hirgest 
amount of cotton woukl gain the live thousand doUars, 
in addition to the products of the field. 

"Costly and nutritious food was supplied to those 
slaves," said the teacher of tluit school, "and the cot- 
ton planter's whip was as freely applied to them." 
The Colonel's plantation was close by that school room. 

" The driver," said he, " went behind the gang of 
slaves, constantly cracking his whip, from morning till 
night. The boy or girl who fell in the rear received 
the lash, just like the poor, feeble lamb that fiills be- 
hind in the drove. And I was informed," he added, 
in a tone expressing great grief and sympathy, ^^eujhteen 
slaves belonging to that man perished in the fields and 
the huts last summer, from being over driven. But 
Col. H. raised more cotton than his neighbor with 
whom he laid the wager." 

Tlie amount of cotton raised probably exceeded by 
some fifteen or twenty thousand dollars in value, the 
usual crop obtained under the ordinary mode of feed- 
in sr and di-;vi;i<?. 



BLOOD AND MURDER. 

"There is no flesh in man's obdurate heart — 
It (Iocs not feel for man." 

I came from Darien up to Savannah on Friday, in 
the spring of 1853, and took lodgings at my former 



222 SLAVEEY UNMASKED. 

liome, the Marshall House. On Saturday I walked 
about the city, renewing old acquaintances, visiting 
the market, the post ofl&ce, the reading rooms, stores, 
commission houses, &c., but received no intimation 
that a murder had been commited in that city a day 
or two previous. At the Marshall House I found 
many of the old boarders with whoni I was acquain- 
ted. I attended church with them the next Sabbath, 
but I heard no one speak of any murder. 

On Monday morning I stepped into the office of a 
gentleman of high standing, who went from Massachu- 
setts, and he gave me a cordial greeting. 

"I suppose," remarked my friend, "that you have 
heard of the murder of ' Cuffee,' by Wilson?" 

" I have not, sir," I replied. 

"Why! when did you come into the city?" 

" Last Friday." 

" Well, where have you been in the mean time, 
that you have not heard of that terrible murder ?" 

I imformed him of my facilities to obtain news — 
stating where I had been and whom I had seen. 

" Now this is astonishing," said my friend, " that a 
man can be killed in one of our public streets, in broad 
day light, and the fact not be known at the market, 
or the reading rooms, or the hotels !" 

" Don't your papers publish such accounts?" I in- 
quired. 

" No, sir, I looked in the daily papers Friday and 
Saturday, and was surprised to see no mention of it 
there." 

" Can you give me the facts, sir ?" I continued. 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 2li3 

" Oh, yes," replied the merchant, promptly. And 
he added, " I suppose you know Wilson ?" 

" I do not, sir. I liavc merely seen him, but have 
no acquaintance with him." 

" Did you know Cuffee?" he asked. 

" I did not." 

" Cufifec was a house carpenter, a very smart, inge- 
nioiLS, industrious workman. He liired liis time of his 
master, for which he paid him two hundred and seven- 
ty doUai-s a year. He did job-work, and by constant, 
hard labor, could earn a little more than the ainmmt 
paid his master, and thus have the means of affording 
a few comforts to his wife and family, which they 
would not otherwise enjoy. You see that window, 
sir !" pointing to a large window in his office. " Cuf- 
fee put that window in a few days since. He made 
the sash and frame, and put up those neat little fix- 
tures you see at the sides." 

" About six months ago." continued Mr. , 

" Cuffee did some work for Wilson which was worth 
at least t2n dollars. He waited some time for his pay, 
but Wils;)n neglected it. Cuffee asked liim two or 
three time for it, and Wilson refused as often to pay 
him. Last week Cuffee met him in the street and de- 
manded payment. 'I have been sick lately, Mr, 
Wilson,' said Cuffee, ' and I have not collected quite 
enough to pay the amount due to my master ; and if 
you ever intend to pay me for the work I did for you 
I will thank you to do it now.' ' The work was not 
half done,' replied Wilson ; 'and I thought I should'nt 
pay you any thing for doing it.' 



224 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

Two gentlemen were standing on the side-wait, 
wlio saw and heard it all. 

' Well,' said Cuflfee, ' remember that I shall never 
ask you for it again, so you will decide it finally this 
time.' 

"Wilson took a half a dollar from his pocket, and 
held it out towards Cufifee, in his open hand. 

' Is that all you mean to pay me, Mr. Wilson ? ex- 
claimed Cuffee, contemptuously. ' Yes,' replied Wil- 
son, angrily, — ' take that, or nothing.' ' Why Mr. 
Wilson ! that is not half as much as I paid a boy 
who helped me to do the job.' 

' I don't care for that,' said Wilson ; that's all I 
shall i)ay you.' 

'Mr.^Wilson,' continued Cuifee, much excited, 'if 
we were a little nearer the river, I would throw tliis 
half dollar into it, just to let you know that I can 
live without it, and that I despise your meanness and 
dishonesty.' 

Now it does not answer for a slave to call a slavehold- 
er mean or dishonest. No matter how mean and dis- 
honest he may be, the slave must not remind hira of it. 

Wilson commenced beating, kicking, and cursing 
the poor slave. The spectators did not interfere — ^jDer- 
haps they dare not provoke the murderer's wrath. 
Cuffee was able to defend himself, if public opinion 
would have sustained him ; he could have run from 
the assassin, but he feared the bullet would overtake 
him. The blows continued to fall upon him so thick 
and hea\'T, that, under a consciousness of his inno- 
cence, having more moral courage than if he had not 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 225 

been making hisown contracts, and tliinking, probably, 
that lie coukl fall back on his kind master for protec- 
tion, he straightened himself up, stepped back, stretched 
out his stalwart arm, and exclaimed — 

' I tell you now, Mr. Wilson, that if I was not a 
shave, I would not endure such treatment as this from 
you for a moment I' 

Behold him lifting up his hand against a white man! 
Unpardonable offence! Any man may kill him wiUi 
impunity ! Wilson drew his double barreled pistol, 
and shot the noble hearted slave on the sjiot ! 

Sometimes I am aware the Northern mind is shock- 
ed by an account of some horrid transaction in the 
south, in which the actors seem more like devils than 
men. The story seems so improbable that those who 
are determined to maintain a good opinion of slave- 
holders affect to disbelieve it ; while others doubt it 
not, because they know that often, where slavery exists, 

"deeds arc wrought, 
Which well might shame extremcst hell ;" 

and yet these things are not doubted or denied in 
the south. On the contrary they are related with a 
nonchalance and an indifference that are surprising. 
The slaveholder in many instances seems to glory in 
his shame. 

An illustration of this may be seen in the re- 
cent burning at the stake of a slave in Sumpter County, 
Alabama, and the manner in which the slaveholders 
— even those who do not justify it — relate the facts. 
" Dave," a slave of James D. Thornton, accused of the 
murder of the daughter of his mistress, was arrested, 
10* 



226 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

and confessed his guilt. Mr. Thornton and friends as- 
sembled to the number of one hundred men, well arm- 
ed, got into the jail by stratagem, seized the slave, 
and bore him off in triumph. What followed, I will 
give in the language of the Sumpter Whig : 

" They left in high glee with the 2yrisonei\ whom they 
felicitated themselves they had captured by a coup (£ 
etat^ and without a resort to the formidable weapons 
with which they were armed. Just before leaving, 
some one of the crowd extended an invitation to the 
Sheriff and the good people of Livingston to appear 
near the residence of Mr. James D. Thornton, (the 
place of the horrid murder,) at one o'clock p. M., on 
Friday following, to witness the burning of the mur- 
derer. In justice to our Sheriff, we will state here, 
that he and one of his deputies had gone to Wetumpka, 
to carry Eobinson to the penitentiary, who had been 
sentenced at our last circuit court. Indeed, if he had 
been home on the occasion, he could not have arrest- 
ed this unlawful procedure ; for the rescue was effect- 
ed so quick and with so little noise, that many of our 
citizens living immediately on the square knew noth- 
ing of it until the next morning. Two of the Sheriff's 
deputies afterwards demanded the prisoner, and re- 
monstrated against this proceeding, but it was Hke 
talking to the winds. Some of our citizens who went 
down at the appointed place to witness the burning of 
the murderer, have related to us that the negro was 
tied to a stake, with fat and light wood piled around 
him, and that the torch was applied in the presence of two 
thousand persons, who had met theix to witness the novel 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 227 

seem. The rumors which got aflout, that the negro 
was tortured, are utterly untrue." 

Not long before I visited Georgia, there was a 
tragedy very much like this in that State, though the 
details were more shocking. I visited the place where 
it occurred, and heard it repeated by different persons, 
— though the story was related to me in all its par- 
ticulars, as I give it here, by Airs. A., the wife of a 
slave-holder, who was compelled by her husband to 
witness the scene. She was an intelligent, Christian 
lady, — a native of Augusta, in that Stiite. Like very 
many southern women, she was opposed to slavery, 
and sympathized with the slaves in their sufferings, — 
and for this reason her harsh, unfeeling husband re- 
quired her to go witli him to see the terrible deed. 

A punishment had been inflicted upon this slave 
by his mistress, which I will not name or describe. 
In revenge for it, he seized a hatchet and struck her 
twace upon the head, inflicting wounds that he sup- 
posed would cause instant death, — though she after- 
wards recovered. K there were any possible justifica- 
tion of the law of retaliation — if revenge ever could 
be right — he would have been justified in taking the 
life of his mistress. Had he not been a slave, public 
opinion would have pronounced him guiltless. So he 
felt. Instead of trying to escape, he ran immediately 
to the Court House — where the Court wa.s then in 
session — told the officers what he had done, and ex- 
pressed his willingness to suffer the penalty of the law. 
That, like those who take life without any excuse, he 
would, in due course of law, suffer upon the gallows. 



228 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

was wliat lie anticipated. He wished not to avoid the 
doom ; he desired not to live. But the slave-holders 
in that region decided tliat he should suffer a different 
fate. They determined he should be burned alive 1 
And they accordingly offered him up — a sacrifice — 
upon the bloody altar of slavery ! They raised 
money, by subscription, to pay his mistress for her 
loss. Several persons admitted to me that they con- 
tributed for that purpose. The slave was given up to 
them, and for five days he received fifty lashes a day, 
upon his naked back, with the heavy " cotton planters' 
whip." So was his Heavenly Master before his crael 
death ! 

The day appointed, — which some said was Satur- 
day, others Monda}^, but which my informant said was 
the Sabbath, — at length arrived, and the multitude 
assembled. There is a sparse population in that and 
the adjoining counties, — not more than five thousand 
within a space of thirty miles square, — and yet the 
number present was variously estimated at from ten 
to fifteen thousand. All the slaves in that region 
were compelled to attend. The slave who was to be 
executed, was the husband of a young wife, and the 
father of two young daughters, who were also forced 
to be present ! The victim was led out from the place 
of his confinement to an oak tree, near the Court 
House, where he was surrounded by a vast crowd 
of beholders, clamoring for the consuming fire I The 
single garment he had on was taken off, a cord was 
fastened to his hands, and thus naked, he was drawn 
up several feet from the earth, and hung suspended on 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 229 

a large limb, A slow fire, made oi' hard pine shavings, 
was then kindled beneath him. At first, the smoke 
arose and enveloped him, and then the elear, briglit 
flames quickly a.scended, eoiling al)out the limbs, en- 
cireling the body, scorching the nerves, cri.sping the 
fibres, charring the flesh, — and, in mortal anguish, he 
was, (to use the lady's own language), " sweating great 
drops of blood !" But, before life was entirely extin- 
quished, when he was in the last convulsive ag<jnies 
of death, the executioners applied their knives, which 
they had prepared, fastened upon poles, cutting open 
the thorax and abdomen ! Then one of the fiends 
thrust in a hook, prepared in like manner, and drag- 
ged out the heart ! Another tore out the liver ! A 
third wrenched out the lungs ! And with these vital 
organs, elevated above their heads on poles, they ran 
through the crowd screaming, " So shall it be done to 
the slave that murders his mistress P^ Then the heart 
was thrown upon the ground — and the crowd rushed 
over it, forward and backward, stamping upon it, 
crushing out the life's blood, and treading it in the 
dust. Then, in like manner, the lungs and the liver 
were disposed of, amid the deafening shouts of the 
savage throng. 

Facts so blood-thirsty, so horrible, and so well 
attested by one who was an unwilling witness of 
the whole transaction, require no comments from me. 



230 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

RETURN" NORTH. 

On the fourteentli of June, 1854, at five o'clock, P. 
M., I took passage on the noble steamship James 
Adger, for New York, where she safely arrived on the 
third morning out, at four, A. M. We had a fine, 
agreeable passage, except while rounding Cape Hatte- 
ras, when for some three hours we encountered one of 
those terrific southern gales which scarcely give evi- 
dence of approach until the hurricane is upon you 
with all its wrath. Never until then did I witness the 
awful grandeur of a sea-storm, the rolling, belching 
thunder went roar, roar, roar, like the continuous dis- 
charge of a formidable battery, and the red, stream- 
ing lightning reflected fearfully ominous upon the 
distorted countenance of old Neptune, now lashed 
into fury. It seemed for a few moments that every 
spar, beam and plank of our noble craft would be 
blown into a thousand fragments, and that all on 
board must inevitably go down to a watery grave. 

The first night out, the weather being fine, and sky 
cloudless, I went aft, and watched for hours with 
curious interest the million sparks of fire apparently 
kindled up in the wake of the ship, called the lumi- 
nous appearances of the sea. These appearances, say 
sea-faring men, are sure indications of an approach- 
ing storm, and so we found it to be in a few hours 
following. 

The second morning we passed through a large 
school of fish, — dolphin, porpoises, &c., &c. Some- 
times we could see them, in every direction, as far as 



SLAVEUY UNMASKED. 281 

the eye could reach, leaping up and diving down 
again into their native clement, evincing the most 
playful mood. Now they dart away in front of our 
proud ship, as if in derision of her tardy movements 
when compared with tlieirs, and now for miles to- 
gether they keep side by side with her. I saw at an- 
other time, about a mile distant, a large strciim of 
\vater thrown directly into the air, when suddenly a 
large whale rolled up its ponderous form, resembling 
the hulk of a man-of-war. Presently another appeared 
in an opposite direction, and shortly after the whole 
sea appeared alive with fish, whales, &c. 

The passengers, officers and crew were very orderly, 
fare good, and everything cleanly and comfortable. 
To add variety to the voyage, it was necessary for me 
to encounter that terrible scourge of the ocean, sea- 
sickness, than which nothing can be more terrible. 
Neither savory viands, delicious fruit, ice cream, 
choice wines, nor any other thing can mitigate for the 
time being, the death-like sufferings of the poor patient, 
rocked by old Neptune almost into the other world. 
While writhing in its deadly gripe, rolling and tumb- 
ling like the falling domes of an earthquaked city, one 
scarcely has a choice whether he sinks or swims, dies 
or lives ; whether the ship makes the port, or as the 
sailor says, goes to " Davy Jones' Locker." In his 
state-room, on deck, in the saloon, by night and by 
day, from larboard to starboard, and from every other 
quarter, like a fury from the deep, it preys upon the 
poor victim. Emerging from my state-room one 
morning, after a night of unmitigated sickness of this 



232 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

kind, I made for the deck and ruslied to the side of 
the vessel for the purpose of settling a small account 
with his Briny Majesty, when a large wave, striking 
her at the same time, the whole length of her broad- 
side, knocked me over with such force as to send me 
reeling into the cabin, with a coat of slime which con- 
tributed not much towards allaying the nausea already 
wasting my life. 

And even now while I write, though hundreds of 
miles away from the roaring sea, yet by the law of 
sympathy, arising from past recollections, I can sense 
in a measure some of the same repulsive, faint, nause- 
ating, death-like feelings I then experienced. If the 
reader has never been sea-sick, he can form no idea of 
its dreadful effects. 

Entering New York harbor, though a little past the 
middle of June, we felt the cold northern winds fan- 
ning us, contrasting not very pleasantly with the mild, 
sunny breath we left behind. On landing I immedi- 
ately took hack for the hotel at which I had previously 
stopped, where, as on former occasions, I found good 
quarters and sumptuous fare. But the order of the 
day LQ the great metropolis appeared to be storm, mud 
and fog, both day and night, night and day, for nearly 
a week. Began to wish myself back again far in the 
sunny ^ sunny south. Finally, after taking the New 
York and Erie Eailroad, a few hours jolting over that 
iron highway and others, landed me safely in the 
centre of the beautiful queen city of the west, where I 
had the pleasure of spending four long months amid 
its roll and bustle, steam and smoke. 



CUAPTEK VII. 



CINCINNATI. 



A WHOLE chapter devoted to a northern eitv in a 
work bearing the title of tliis book, might seem irrele- 
vant and foreign to the purposes it contemj)lates. Not 
only by the law of contrast but also by real occurren- 
ces, -which the writer has witnessed, he will assure the 
reader that no city shows up the dark i7i.s(itii(io7i in so 
unfavorable a light. Why, there are materials enough, 
southern materials floating through Cincinnati annual- 
ly, to make a score of Uncle Tom's duplicated by an 
equal number of North side view of slavery. 

The underground railroad runs directly through 
its centre, has for years past and will for 3'ears to come. 
Here is where northern south side judges with other 
northern federal officials help to forge out bolts and 
bars to prop up the pt'c^^^m/' instKution — where the 
frantic fugitive mother draws the dejfdly knife upon 
her tender offspring and sends it to a premature grave 
sooner than have it live to be remanded to a cruel life- 
long bondage. 

It is the great border city of the^ee states, dividing 
in a manner northern demogil\.cy from southern des- 
potism — one of the great battle fields of freedom, 
where liberty and tyranny have not unfrequently met 
in fearful and bloody combat, — where many an act of 
, daring has been performed on the part of the poor 



234 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

hunted down fugitive sufficiently worthy of a record 
on the stirring pages of the world's history ; and where 
a great many deeds have been done on the part of 
the slave-holder and slave-hunter sufficiently ludicrous 
and mean, to awaken the loud laugh of devils, and 
contempt of mankind. 

For the benefit of a certain class of readers, I shall 
give a few descriptive, historical, and statistical items, 
connected with the city, with its rise, growth and gen- 
eral prosperity : which speak volumns for free insti- 
tutions over slavery and despotism. 

Cincinnati is the most populous city of the western 
states, and the fifth in size and importance among all 
the cities of the union. It is remarkable for its rapid 
growth, extensive trade, productive industry, and re- 
ligious institutions. From its central position between 
Pittsburg and the mouth of the Ohio, it has become 
the principal gathering and distributing point in the 
valley of that river. The city is beautifully situated 
in a valley three miles in diameter, intersected from 
east to west by the Ohio, and environed by a range of 
hills, with a "v^ell defined circular form, rising by 
gentle acclivities about four hundred feet above the 
river. From the summits of these, the most beautiful 
views of Cincinnati are obtained. The greater part 
of the city is built on two terraces or plains, of which 
the first is fifty feet, and the second one hundred and 
eight feet above low water mark. 

The front margin of the latter, originally a steep 
bank, has been graded to a gentle declivity, so that 
the drainage of the city is effected by means of the . 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 235 

streets, directly into the river. The upper terrace 
slopes towards the north, and, at the average distance 
of a mile, terminates at the base of the Mount Auburn 
range of limestone hills, adorned with country seats, 
vine-yards, and gardens. The city extends some four 
miles or more along the river, without including the 
suburban villages. The central portions are compact- 
ly and handsomely built, with streets about sixty-six 
feet wide, bordered with spacious ware-houses of brick 
and stone. 

Main street extends from the steamboat landing in 
a N. N. W. direction, and Broadway, Sycamore, Wal- 
nut, Vine, Race, Elm, and Plum streets, with Western 
Row and other streets still lower down are parallel 
with it. These streets arc all intersected at right 
angles by fourteen principal streets, named Front, First, 
Second, Third &c., up to Fourteenth street. Among 
the handsomest portions of the city — are Broadwa}^, 
Main, Pearl and Fourth streets. At the foot of Main 
street is the public landing or levee, an open area 
of ten acres, with one thousand feet front. The 
shore of the river is paved with stone from low- wa- 
ter mark to the top of the first bank, and furnished 
with floating wharves, which accommodate themselves 
to the great variation in the heiglit of the river. The 
Ohio is subject to great freshets in certain portions of 
the year. The mean annual range from low to liigh 
water is about fifty feet. The city is divided into 
sixteen wards, and is governed by a Mayor and a 
Board of Trustees, consisting of three members from 
each ward, usually known by the name of City Council. 



236 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

Among the most prominent- and interesting public 
buildings may be mentioned the edifice of Cincinnati 
College, on Walnut street, occupied in part by the 
chamber of commerce and mercantile library ; it is 
one hundred and forty feet long, by one hundred wide, 
with a marble front in the Doric style : the Eoman 
Catholic cathedral, at the corner of Eighth and Plum 
streets, one of the largest churches in the west, with a 
spire two hundred and fifty feet high ; it is two hun- 
dred feet long, and eighty wide, and cost about one 
hundred thousand dollars : the Episcopal church, at 
the corner of Seventh and Plum streets, recently erect- 
ed, at a cost of some eighty thousand dollars : the First 
Presbyterian church, at the corner of Main and Fourth 
streets : the new City Hall, on Plum street, between 
Eighth and Ninth : the Melodeon at the corner of 
Fourth and Walnut streets, containing a public hall 
one hundred feet long, sixty wide, and twenty-five feet 
high : the Masonic Hall, at the corner of Third and 
Walnut streets, erected in the castellated style of 
Gothic architecture : the Burnett House at the corner 
of Third and Vine streets, one of the most spacious 
hotels in the United States; two hundred and 
twelve feet by two hundred and ten ; it is six stories 
in height, contains three hundred and forty-two 
apartments, and is surmounted by a dome which is one 
hundred feet above the basement ; the cost of it is es- 
timated at three hundred thousand dollars : the Cin- 
cinnati observatory, a fine stone edifice, situated on 
the top of an eminence, (Mount Adams,) which rises 
five hundred feet above low- water, commanding a wide 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 237 

and varied prospect of the city, and the '* vine clad 
hills." Through the centre of the main building rises a 
pier of masonry, founded on the native rock, support- 
ing the great equatorial telescope, which in one of the 
largest and most perfect in the world. The focal 
length is about seventeen feet and a half, and the di- 
ameter of the object gla.*^s, twelve inches, with magni- 
fying powers varying from one hundred times up to 
one thousand. 

UNDER GROUND RAILROAD. 

This road, as previously remarked, runs directly 
through this great Metropolitan city of the west, bear- 
ing scores, if not huntbeds of passengers, monthly 
en route for (Canada) the Canaan of the ftigUive. The 
stock of this road is worth fifty per cent more than it 
was six years ago, when the infomous Fugitive Slave 
Law^ took effect, from the untold amount of wealth 
accruing in the bodies and souls of men restored to 
freedom and the race. Here I have taken my stand 
and seen droves of native born Americans pour in 
from the home of their birth and chains, for theyj/'om- 
xsed land ; black, white and yellow. Some were as in- 
tellectual in their appearance as the Calhouus, the 
Wises and the Aikens ; others as muscular and strong 
in their physical proportions as Hercules the first — 
while in others could be traced all the lines of beauty 
that graced the image of old Venus the fair. 

The association constituting the Under Ground 
Railroad Company of the west, a branch of which is 
located here, is composed of a set of heroic men and 



238 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

women, ministers and laymen, of noble, moral daring, 
of the real Jerusalem stock. The proprietors, conduc- 
tors, hands, station-keepers, &c., &c., know their busi- 
ness well, and do it, " they are all at it and always at 
it," hence the success of the company. I stepped into 
the depot or railroad office of this way one day, kept 
by friend Obadiah the good, by whom I was welcomed, 
conducted through its apartments, introduced to some 
of its conductors, passengers and waymen, with whom 
I conversed, upon whose person I saw the marks of 
galling chains and irons, and from whose tongues I 
heard tales of woe that made my very blood run cold. 

I was here introduced to the Eev, Mrs, H , of 

Michigan, a venerable, pious, intelligent lady of fifty 
or more years, one of the regular and most successful 
conductors on this road. Yes, she is a female divine, I 
heard her preach, in which she did credit to herself 
and honor to the pulpit. She was in waiting for her 
train, now, making up for its departure the following 
week. In the mean time she gave me a short history of 
her connection with the under-ground railroad, her ex- 
ploits, dangers, threats made against her, prison visits, 
and hair-breath escapes from the blood hounds of sla- 
very ; how she went to Frankfort, Kentucky, and after a 
series of efforts succeeded in gaining admittance into the 
the prison where poor Fairbank was suffering a living 
martyrdom, and administered to his wants, how she re- 
turned to Louisville, talked to some of the slaves, was 
treated coolly even while a guest there, and finally driv- 
en out of the state, and pursued all the way to Michigan, 
by the state officers of the bloody institution^ with war- 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 239 

rants for her arrest, and how the lion. K. H. Beeehcr, 
of Adrian, Michigan, gallantly proffered his services in 
her defence, &;e., &c. 

Presently in came the hostess aunt Kebecca, compan- 
ion and helpmeet of Obadiah the good, from whom I 
learned there was an orphan asylum for colored fugi- 
tive children connected with their establishment over 
which she presided. From whom I also learned that 
companies of from fifteen to thirty, poor, wandering, 
homeless, star\ang, bleeding, hunted down fugitives, 
from the woods, waters, lagoons, and swamps of the 
south, had frequently been seated around their table at 
a time, were comfortably housed, lodged, and sent on 
within a day or so to Canada. And these were succeeded 
by others, of a simDar character, year in and year out. 
This is a religion, I thought to myself, more acceptable 
to God, more convincing to the poor slave at least, 
and better for the world than all the shouts and 
hallelujahs of Christendom for centuries past. What 
are loud shouts and lofty pretensions to religion, in 
the cause of humanity, where helping hands, dollars 
and cents are needed ? They are good for nothing, 
and amount to little more than mockery to millions of 
our suftering race. A number of slave hunters, those 
reprobates of the race, are often seen prowling around 
these premises, especially in the evening, for the pur- 
pose of catching, gagging, and carrying across the river 
any of the fugitives who may wander out on the walk. 

While listening to the thrilling moving adventures 
of this philanthropic Christian lady in the glorious 
cause of freedom and humanity, in came an intelligent 



240 SLAVERY UNMASKED, 

appearing mulatto man, whom I sliall call Kobert. 
Bobert was a free man, a native of South Carolina, 
who by indefatigable labor and economy had succeeded 
after years of long suffering, as some few do at the 
south, though not many, in purchasing his freedom. 
After which he went to New Orleans and hired 
himself out to service, where he stopped several years, 
earned a large sum of money and was cheated out of 
the whole of it, by those wicked oppressors of the 
race, who can with impunity buy and sell, and cheat 
out of their hard earnings the poor down trodden 
slave. 

He had a powerfal, pressing, stimulant to nerve him 
to action ; his wife and child were yet in bondage for 
whose liberation he worked day and night, scarcely 
allowino" himself the common necessaries of life until 
this glorius, crowning consummation of his being 
should be accomplished. Finally after having earned 
' what he thought sufficient for this purpose, he went to 
his employers and demanded his money, but they put 
him off, and put him off, so often and so coolly that he 
found they never meant to pay him and at length gave 
it up as a hopeless case, there being neither law nor 
justice for his caste in that city. 

Having heard even in New Orleans, by some mys- 
terious or providential way, that he did not explain 
to the writer, of the famous Mrs. Stowe, author of the 
immortal Uncle Torns Cabin, and of her scarcely less 
notable brother. Rev. Henry Ward Beecher — having 
heard of the generous sympathy awakened in the 
hearts of these truly Christian, philanthropic individuals 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 241 

in behalf of his down trodden people ; the poor fel- 
low started for the north to see if they would not help 
him to the means necessary for the recovery of his 
family. Unfortunate man, I })itied him, it wa.s all I 
could do. B}' dint of indomitable perseverance, and 
good fortune he wo^ed his passage up to Pittsburgh, 
from thence to Adrian, ^Mich., where some good anti- 
slavery friends referred him to Rev. Mrs. Il.who then re- 
sided there, as a suitable person to enter upon a work 
of the kind. Immediately he repaired to her house, but 
found she wfus in Cineirmati ; so oft' he started for the 
Queen city, where he arrived in a few hours, and came 
to the underground railroad oflice while I was there. 
His tale was a pitiful one indeed, requiring a volume, 
instead of a few pages to narrate. Soon after he en- 
tered, another poor hunted down fugitive right from 
the swamps of the Mississippi came in ; a mulatto 
woman, though young, about twenty-five, yet she 
looked old, and care worn, with scars on her face and 
head, indelible marks of the cruel task master. On 
seeing Robert she ventured from the back room in 
which she was sitting, hoping, and not a little expect- 
ing it might be her own dear husband whom she left 
nearly fifteen hundred miles away in the rice growing 
fields of Louisania., As she entered she cast a wild, 
piercing glance at me, and at the front windows, to 
see if she could recognize in any who were in the 
room, or on the walk, her merciless pursuers, for they 
were upon her track and she knew it. ^[argaret, for 
that was her name, was the slave of Capt. D., who 
resided in the lower part of Mississippi, on the banks 
11 



242 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

of the tatlier of waters, where scores of boats pass 
and repass every day, some of which occasionly 
touched at a point on his plantation, to wood iij), or 
to take on or let off passengers. On one of these oc- 
casions, Margaret, who by the way, was a sort of Gassy ^ 
from her mistress' wardrobe metamorphosed herself 
into a lady of quality, left the mansion, passed on 
through a crowd, thickly veiled, to the levee, entered 
an up bound Cincinnati boat, was secreted by the 
colored chambermaid in her room to this city. 

Before leaving, she and her husband who was owned 
by a neighboring planter, had made up their minds to 
go to Canada. Getting the start of him as above des- 
cribed, she is now here waiting his arrival, hoping and 
praying that a similar good fortune may soon bring 
him to join her. 

When the fugitives came in, friend Obadiah intro- 
duced them to us, as friend Eobert and friend Marga- 
ret, late of Mississippi, &c. After conversing a while 
with Eobert, we turned to Margaret and had a long 
talk with her. Said I to her : — 

" Then you are from Mississippi, are you ?" 

" Yes, please massa, God bless you." 

" When did you leave there ?" 

" Three weeks ago." 

" What is your master's name ?" 

" 'Is name Capt. D , Sir." 

"Did you like him?" 

" No." 

" Why, was 'nt he good to you ?" 

" Sometimes a little good, — but then, Lor, look 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. • 248 

out, — old folks get mad and whip 'um cliiroiis, and 
ebeiy nigger almos' to pieces." 

" Does he belong to any church ?" 

" Yes." 

" What church ?" 

" De Methodis' church." 

"Does he ever speak and pray in church ?" 

" I reeon ye'd think so, when ye'd heard him a smart 
while, like I'se done. many a time." 

"Did you ever hear him curse and swear?'' 

" Yes, when he 'd be so mad he could 'nt help it, 
then he 'd cuss ebery body, an' ebery ting, and say, 
dam de niggers, debil hab all de niggers, and white 
peoples too !" 

" Did he ever punish you very hard ?" 

" Lor, yes massa, so many times can't 'member how 
much. Ye see that scar on my face, (and a cruel one 
it was,) well, in de cotton fiel one day, 'case sick some 

an' coidd 'nt pick fas, massa D say, pic lasser gal, 

pic fasser, an' 'case could 'nt, massa strike wid de cane 
on my face till could 'nt work more in a week, an' 
mos' kill me." 

" "Were you ever tied up to the whipping post, and 
flogged with the cat-o'-nine-tails ?" 

" Yes, twice ; once when I libed wid massa Brown, 

over in Alabama, an' once by massa D , in 

Mississippi." 

" How many lashes did they give you ?" 

" Massa Brown did fifty, and massa D two hun- 
dred, till I fainted and almos' died. Oh, 't was awffil, 
awffil whipping !" 



244 . SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

" Did you ever see them punisli children very se- 
verely ?" 

" Yes, yes, Lor, yes. Cousin Jane's Kitty they 
killed. Kitty was about ten years old. 'Case did 'nt 
get enough to eat, Kitty would say : ' Please, missus, 
I'm hungry, won't you give me some bread to eat ?' 
'No,' missus say, 'go out, you lazy brat, you want to 
eat all the time, I won't give you anything to eat.' 
Then Kitt}^ would go to the neighbor across the way, 
and say to them : ' Please, missus, give Kitty some- 
thing to eat — most starved.' When ole missus heard 
of it, she said : ' Kitty, come liere ; you go to th e 
neighbor's for bread, do you ? I'll teach you how to 
beg.' She pulled off all Kitty's clothes, and tied her 
up into a small tree, all day, and all night, with noth- 
ing to eat or drink. Kitty cried, and cried. Masser 
said : ' Take Kitty down ;' but missus said : ' No, she'd 
learn her to beg of the neighbors.' But in the morn - 
ing poor Kitty was dead !" 

" Which is the worst, a master or a mistress ?" 

" A mistress is worse, 'case she is foreber tormenting 
poor slaves. When the masser whips, it is done with ; 
but a missus will blackguard, scold, and tease, and 
whip the life out of us." 

" Do you ever go to church, and pray to God ?" 

" Yes, sometimes, but slave religion is mighty 
scarce on a Mississippi sugar plantation." 

" Do you work on Sundays ?" 

"Yes, hab no Sundays; sometimes, work all Sun- 
days." 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 246 

FUGITIVES AND SLAVE UUNTEItS. 

Fugitives may be found here from almost all the 
slave-holding States of the Union. And ahso the 
streets sometimes swarm with the slave hunters and 
holders of these States, looking uj) their goods and 
cJiatlrk, whieh ai'C almost consUmtly floating up the 
Mississippi and Ohio for Canada. A few they reseue, 
but most they lose. Various methods are resorted to 
by these blood-hounds of the south, for the recajjture 
of their lost prey. Not unfrequently the following is 
adopted : — 

The hunter, generally a shrewd, polished, outlawed 
villain, gets upon the track of one he knows is here, 
learns where he or she attends church, if any, puts up 
at a large hotel, and on Sunday morning pens a note 

like the following : " Miss M T is requested 

to call at the American Hotel, this afternoon, at four 
o'clock, where she will find a dear friend, whom she 
wall be glad to see. Be sure and come at the ap- 
pointed hour." Signed, " A Friend." Then sends it 
to the pastor of the church to be read in public. And 
if she goes, she will be in chains in less than no time, 
and on the Kentucky side. I heard a similar note 
read in one of the colored churches here. Whether 
the girl went to the hotel, or not, I cannot say. 

Another is, a number of them will go together to 
the colored church, or linger round it, at night, about 
time for church to be out, single out their prey, seize 
and throw him into a coach prepared for the purpose, 
hurry off to the river, and cross before scarcely any 
one knows anything about it. 



246 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

Sometimes they will call themselves lumbermen, 
boatmen, or something else, engaged on the bank of 
the river ; will go to these fugitives and offer them 
large wages to go down to the river and pile lumber, 
or help unload a boat, &c., &c., and when they arrive 
there, force them into a boat prepared for the purpose, 
and in five minutes more they are again in the land of 
bondage. 



CHAPTER Vin. 



LOUISVILLE, 



Here I am once more, fully and fairly in the land 
of slavery, on the soil of old Kentucky, in its chief 
city, and must be careful what I write and say. "Well, 
you shall see, sooner or later, what effect the advice 
my northern and eastern counsellers, God bless them, 
shall have on my pen. 

It was about five o'clock in the morning when we 
landed, and then what an army of Kentucks, in the 
shape of cab, buss, and hack drivers beset us, thun- 
dering in our ears their broad western accents. "Harve 
a cab, sir ? harve a hack, sir ? harve ye any lodding, 
sir, to tuck up town, if ye has, thars the mule that 
ken haul a lod whats a lod ?" With some little diffi- 
culty, and quite a feat at elbowing, I at length suc- 
ceeded in making my way through a small regiment 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 247 

of them, and passed up over the Levee into tlie eity 
proper, to look up my own quarters, liaving already 
learned that Southern and Western hotels, require no 
small share of a little fortune for a few weeks' board. 
In about two hours })romenading through the ehief 
streets of the city, succeeded quite to my wishes in 
finding a boarding house, kept by a lady from Phila- 
delphia ; and an excellent one she keeps I will assure 
you, board five dollars per week. 

Louisville is a much larger place than I had expect- 
ed to find ; it has a jiopulation of from seventy-five 
thousand to a hundred thousand ; covers as much 
ground as Cincinnati, though not so compactly built. 

It presents a greater business aspect than any of the 
southern cities I have yet visited. It scarcely appears 
a slave city, yet slavery does exist here ^ the fact is, it 
is so near the land of freedom that it has caught many 
of those elements of progress, so peculiar to the North 
and East. Many Eastern men are now here shaping 
its business destinies, as also those of the whole state* 
and it's not unlikely but old Kentuck may yet come out 
a free State. One of her daring native sons appears 
to be devoting his life to such a consummation, at 
least : I allude to the famous Cassius M. Clay. Reader, 
did you ever hear this lingular man in public ? I pre- 
sume you have, while on some of his eastern lectur- 
ing tours. Well, just allow me here to describe to 
you, reader, how he harangues his native Kentuckians, 
on the subject of slavery. lie sends an appointment 
to a given place, to lecture at a certain time ; perhaps 
some of the citizens will send word that he will not 



248 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

be allowed to lecture there ; he sends word back to 
them that he will lecture there, according to previous 
notice. The time comes, a great crowd is collected to 
hear the lecturer or to see the mob ; presently the lec- 
turer comes, he passes directly through the crowd, 
mounts the forum, waves his hand for attention, all 
eyes are turned towards the speaker. He commences 
with a firm, clear, and decided tone of voice, the fol" 
lowing remarks : 

Gentleman, says he, I have a few preliminaries to 
settle, previous to entering upon the main subject of 
discussion. I want to make three short appeals to 
three classes of persons, whereupon he holds up a small 
Bible. There, gentlemen says he, is the great charter 
record of human rights, on which all law and equity 
is based, deserving the name of law — this is my ap- 
peal to the religious portion of society — and lays it 
down upon the stand before him. Then heliolds up 
the Constitution of the United States. Here, gentle- 
men, says he, is the bond of our Union, the noble 
Constitution of our Glorious Republic, which says that 
all men are born free and equal, with certain inalien- 
able rights, &c., &c. This is my apj^eal to gentlemen, 
to patriots, and to all true hearted Americans, and 
places it with the Bible before him. Then he puts his 
hand into his pocket and brings out an enormous six 
shooter : holding it up before the audience, he exclaims : 
and here, gentleman, is a six shooter, every barrel of 
which is heavily charged with powder and cold lead. 
This is my appeal to the mobocrats, and I will blow 
its contents through the heart of the first man who 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 249 

offers to lay his hands on me ; to silence mc in my 
native State, or to gag free speech in my presence. 
This he also lays down upon the stand with liis two 
former appeals, ready for action ; tlicn he coMinicnccs 
a perfect storm against the peculiar institution, cnc^ugh 
to wring the sweat out of old Kentucky from every 
pore. By this time, all are awed into submissive 
silence. Such, sir, is the celebrated nephew of old 
Henry Clay, in his own State. Success to his efforts. 
May he live to see the chains fall from every slave in 
the land of his birth. 

Yes, slavery does exist in this city, and throughout 
the State, as you are aware, but in a somewhat modi- 
fied sense. Yet there are some as mean, some as tyranni- 
cal slave-holders to be met here as in any portion of 
the far South, and also, perhaps a greater class of the 
best sort in the whole slave domain. 

Had not been long at my fine boarding house, be- 
fore ascertaining the fact that I was daily seated at the 
same table with two of these miserable anti-human 
critters, walking on two legs and looking like men, 
called niggers droviers. Heard them, as occasionally 
they sat near me, in low conversation, like old Graspum, 
Haley, Tom Loker and the like, earnestly canvassing 
the relative value of the human stock they had just 
purchased or been looking at. They bought up a 
drove of men, women and children, kept them chain- 
ed up in a miserable, dark, filthy slave pen, waiting 
for a rise of water to ship them down to the New 
Orleans market. There are a few barracoons of slaves 
and slave markets here. I see by reading the city 
11* 



250 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

Dailies, where some of the best quality of slaves may 
be had on low terms for cash down. Gentlemen wish- 
ing to purchase will please call and examine stock, at 

No. , on St., G. W. 

A man may more freely express himself on the sub- 
ject of slavery in private conversation here, than ia 
the Carolinas and Georgia, but he may not in public, 
I mean a northern man. Rev. Mr. Knapp, the great 
revivalist tried it in the Baptist church here, just be- 
fore my arrival. He poured on a tremendous tirade 
against the institution., as he had been accustomed to 
in the east, and was soon forced to cross the river, 
with old Kentucky upon his heels. 

"Oh! Kentucky, the hunters of Kentucky." 

While here one day, I came pat upon a Mr. , 

with whom I was intimately acquainted twenty years 
ago in the east. I then knew him as an itinerant 
Methodist preacher of good standing in the M. E. 
church, talented, popular, and successful in his profes- 
sion. But he did not make money fast enough at it 
— had to be removed too often or something else of 
the kind, so he gave up the ministry and went into 
some worldly business, I know not what. And for some 
twenty years I had lost sight of him ; but here he came 
up natural as life, looking scarcely older than when 
last I saw him. I was happy to see him, and he ap- 
peared so to see me. I was at his room, or he at mine 
almost every other night for a time. We went to 
church together, he prayed, spoke, and exhorted like 
a saint in good earnest, lectured before the Sabbath 
schools, &c., &c. He reported himself to me as having 



SLAVERY U.VMASKKD. 251 

taken a Europeaa tour, from thence to Palestine, to 
Australia, Sandwich Islands, and to various other por- 
tions of the Pacific ; hence his ycai*s of absence from 
the notice of his friends. Finally, between two weeks 
he took French leave of this place, after having bor- 
rowed a hundred dollars of one of his fellow boarders, 
fifty from another a fine suit of clothes of a clothier, 
and sundry other valuables from various others — at 
which I felt shocked, mortified, and provoked, you 
may rightly judge, for being a stranger, I came nigh 
being arrested as an accomplice of his in this villan- 
ons affair. Come to converse with his employers here, 
I learned from them that he had been for several years 
in the penitentiary at Philadelphia for forgery. 

Oh, what a servant of Satan and pest to society, a 
backslidden minister may become. And what a les- 
son of warning to all those preachers who think they 
cannot make money enough at preaching, or who 
otherwise cannot put up W' ith the small inconveniences 
of itinerancy, but must leave their high calling to bet- 
ter their condition, by serving tables, &c. Let them 
beware and think before they leap. 

COLORED CHURCH. 

I attended a colored peoples' church yesterday, on 
street The building looked as though it might 



once have been a chapel where the whites worshiped, 
but now for the exclusive use of their poor slaves to 
worship in. Though a low, dirty, superanuated look- 
ing building, yet real, devout, holy, simple-hearted 



252 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

worshipers crowded its altars, and sent up a living 
flame to the throne of God. 

Well, I went in, and took my seat near the altar, it 
being full early for the commencement of their services, 
a few only having as yet come in, but did not wait 
long, when they came, like clouds and doves to their 
windows. A might}^ motley mass of anti-palefaces — 
Jerry and Sambo, Cassars and Ande, Dorcas and Jule, 
Jany and Suza, Lizza, Aunt Cloe, children and all, and 
old Uncle Tom, and little Eva besides, here they all 
are together, and all for one purpose, namely, the 
worship of God. 

There comes the preacher, with a blue coat on and 
blue pantaloons, of the pure, unmixed, African breed, 
with as black a phiz as you ever saw on man, or any 
one else. He stops and shakes hands with a few of 
the brethern and sisters, then passes up into the pul- 
pit. The meeting commences with singing, through 
the whole congregation. Loud and louder still, were 
their devotions — and oh ! what music, what devotion, 
what streaming eyes, and throbbing hearts ; my blood 
runs quick in my veins, and quicker still, as they pro- 
ceed and warm up in this part of the exercises. It 
seems as though the roof would rise from the walls, 
and some of them go up, soul and body both. That 
old dilapidated building seemed the temple of God 
itself, for the time being, the gates of the New Jerusalem 
and abode of holy angels. Why, the singing of these 
poor benighted slaves will shame all our northern and 
eastern choirs out of countenance, for God is in it. Their 
hearts and tongues are moved with Divinity set on fire. 



SLAVERY UNMA8KED. 253 

Prayer time has come. The huiuheds of tliese chil- 
dren of llam prostrate themselves in thedusi, as with 
uplifted hands, and streaming eyes, the preacher leads 
their devotions. lie commences : 

" Oh 1 de great Massa Jesus, who lib so high way 
up in the sky, hab marcy on we, de poor color chillens, 
be preased to look down on ous wid greatcompassiou, 
an sabe ous from de ebles and corrubtions of de wick- 
ed worl. Oh ! de great M:issa, gib ous yor Spirit. 
As ypu gibed yor dar Son to die for de loss an wicked 
worl, gib us yor ade an sistence, we pray you, while I 
tempt to preach yor own word to yor own dar chillens. 
Oh ! de great Lort, hab marcy on our poor flicted, 
scattered, pressed people, an bring ous to de sweet 
Canian Ian, whar no cruel Massa lib — whar de por 
color men hab de white sol." • 

Here is only a small portion of the prayer — have 
neither room nor time for the whole of it — it being 
somewhat lengthy to the conclusion. This happened 
to be a funeral occasion. The preacher could read 
some. His text was in Kevelation, and these the 
words, "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord," 
&c. He read over a few collateral texts, in an imper- 
fect w\ay of course, and then remarked to his hearers: 

" Dis be de way I gib de exposition of de tex, or 
ob de introduction ob de skourse. Bressed be da dat 
die in de Lort. Now, our sister Jany be bressed for 
he die in de Lort. [The poor illiterate slaves in the 
south almost uniformhy' use the masculine gender alike 
for both male and female ; for instance, said one to 
mc, "ray wife he gone up in de country to -stay, and 



254 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

my sister Jule, he's libing wid massa Johnson." Not 
so with all. Some of the colored preachers speak 
very properly indeed. But to proceed with the ser- 
mon.] Our dar sister Jany we member how he sweet 
voice sing in dis hous, and pray in dis hous, but he 
die in de Lort, in de kingom before de trone ot God 
foreber, case he hab de lub of God in he heart. My 
dear bredders and sissers, dwa ye knoo what dat be 
like ? Knoo we can't scribe it. Gloory to God, it be 
Hke de sweet ile ob de kingom. Our dar sisser Jany 
will die noo more foreber — gone to lib wid de angels, 
wid de Sabor, and wid all de good people what went 
up before to lib before de trone foreber, and he work 
follow um. Noo, my dar breddren, wat be de work 
dat follow um ? Why, de prayr, de tanksgibbin, de 
singing, de bein good an goin to de meetin wid de 
bredderin and de sissers. Noo, our dar sisser Jany 
gone to de place whar de singing, and de praying, 
and de tanksgibbin, and all de good work follow um 
foreber ond eber before de trone ob God. Oh ! glory 
to de Lort foreber, for de goot work dat follow he 
chillerns to de kingom foreber. 

" Now," said the preacher, " my dar hearers, ebery 
body hab tree friend in dis worl : firs, de worl ; seccon, 
de money ; and lasly, de Adbocate wid de Fadder. 
Now, if de worl go hart wid um — noo please, noo 
comfit — den de money come in an help um; boot 
whin de worl go wron, and noo comfit, and de money 
all goon, den de Adbocate wid de Fadder take um up, 
wen he gib he heart to God. Oh ! bredderen, gloory 
to de Lort, for de Adbocate wid de Fadder, who take 



SLAVERY UNSIASKEU. 255 

um ub an he gib um do new heart. Ole heart goon 
foreber, and de new man come ub in um. He lub 
God noo, he hib de prayer noo, he lub de tanksgibbin 
noo, he kib all de goot noo, an he work follow um 
noo. Do de worl goo bat noo, and de money all gon 
— neber min, he got de goot money ob de kingom, an 
he got new worl in he heart. Oh 1 gloory to God, de 
great Massa Jesus lib in um noo, an do ole Massa sat- 
tarn kill out ob um. Noo, my dar breddcrcn, if wa 
be goot sarvants ob de great Massa ob de kingom, and 
die in de Lort, we'l goo ub to lib wid him in de gloo- 
rious hoose on high, and de goot worke will follow 
ous foreber and eber." 

So much for a part of the sermon, all of which 
abounded with good ideas, and all fully comprehen- 
ded by his sable and pious hearers. Now, a sin- 
gle dialogue with a poor slave will conclude this paper. 
This morning the man servant who regulates my room 
came in to fix the fire. 

" Well, Sam," said I to him, " how old are you?" 

" Well, don't know zackly, massji, but specks am 
'bout thirty-five." 

" Are you married, Sam ?" 

" No massa, me no married." 

" Are you a slave ?" 

" Yes, massa." 

" "Who is your master ?" 

" Well, old missus dead, and young missus owns 

ous noo, an she rents ous out to de hotel." 

"Had you not rather be your own master, Sam, 
than be owned by another ?" 



256 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

" Yes, Massa, yor right, me'd dratlier be free man 
tliau slave. If me arn five cents a day, me'd dratiier 
have it than any massa." 

" Do you belong to the colored church, Sam ?" 

" Noo, but me goes thar to meetin." 

" Do the colored churches have free preachers, or 
are they slaves ?" 

" Yes," said he, " most of de collor preachers be free, 
but de church buys dem ob da massars, an make dem 
free, an den supports dem." 

Think of tliat ! oh, ye rich northern and eastern 
Methodists, with your crowded barns and overrun- 
ning granaries, who can hardly spare five or ten dol- 
lars of your piled-up wealth, per annum for gospel 
purposes, while here, these poor slaves, with good 
economy and industry, by over- work at the midnight 
hour, purchase their preachers at the enormous sum 
of from $1,000 to $1500 each, and then support them 
quite as well as the majority of northern white preach- 
ers are supported. 

" Do your colored preachers," said I, " administer 
the sacraments to the church ?" 

" Oh yes, massa," said Sam, " we owns in our color- 
ed church, de sacraments, de lofeasts, and de preach- 
ers." 

" Well, Sam, where were you born ?" 

" In Old Ginna." 

" Did you ever hear of Canada, Sam?" 

" Oh yes, massa," said he. 

"Well, what kind of a place do you tliiuk Canada 
is?" 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 257 

"Weil, don't know, but nie hoars tis a miglity goot 
country, where dc colored man lil) like dc white man 
— ^hab de house, de coos, dc hogs, an de boss. Oh, 
mighty goot country, me likes lib dar." 



CHAPTER IX. 

TAKE PASSAGE FOR NEW ORLEANS — THE OHIO. 

Having staid as long as I desired in Louisville, I 
engaged passage on the Hungarian for New Orleans. 
Owing to the long drought just terminated by the 
present rise in the Ohio and its tributaries, and the 
rush of travel floating on for the down river country, 
our passage-fee is unusually high, twenty-five dollars 
for a single passage. Our boat is not a very large one, 
about eleven hundred tons, nor of the latest style, 
rather tardy in her movements compared with some I 
have seen, but she is a safe one, well officered, ably 
manned, and nobly furnished. She is a Cincinnati 
boat, and Capt. Collier, her gentlemanly commander, 
resides in that city, is a native of Ohio, and was once 
a member of the M. E. Church ; he is in appearance 
a very moral, civil, good hearted sort of a man. I 
have a small, tastily furnished state room to myself, 
Avhere I spend hours of my time in reading and wri-, 
ting, as we are being borne along by the force of steam 
and flood towards the great Metropolis of the South, 

Louisville is distant from New Orleans about four- 



258 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

teen hundred miles, and to make the passage between 
them, frequently requires more time than to go from 
Kew York to Europe, in one of the Collins line steam- 
ers. It will be remembered that at Louisville the falls 
in the Ohio obstruct navigation entirely at low stages 
of water. To obviate which, a canal has been cut 
round them to Shippings Port, a distance of two miles. 
It is a work of stupendous labor, being cut a great 
part of its length through solid rock. It is in some 
places forty or fifty feet deep, and of sufficient width 
to pass steamboats through, and affords fine water- 
power for several mill-seats belOw the locks. We 
passed through this canal, were the whole of one day 
in making its passage, so many boats having entered 
before us partially choking it up, and then were 
obliged to rest until morning before venturing to start 
down stream. 

At about nine o'clock the next morning we un- 
fastened our cables, dropped out into the stream stern 
foremost, floated down a few rods, wheeled about, put 
on the steam, and then we felt ourselves fully com- 
mitted upon the waters for our fourteen hundred 
miles voyage. In about twenty minutes after start- 
ing, we passed New Albany, on the Indiana shore, 
the chief city of the State, with a population of about 
fifteen thousand. Presently we passed the mouth of 
Salt river, in Kentucky, which empties into the Ohio 
some twenty miles below Louisville. This is a darkly- 
appearing, smooth, deep and narrow stream, flowing 
sluggishly along, being embowered in the thick foliage 
of trees with which its banks are thickly lined. This 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 25^ 

is the stream whence originated the phrase, " rowing 
up Salt river." It derives its name from the numerous 
salt-licks at its head and along its banks. It flows 
down from, and also through, a hard, rough country ; 
hence, the hardy boatmen of the Ohio and Mississippi 
say to some of their refractory messmates, " we will 
row you up Salt river,^^ and hence the origin of this 
phrase. But neither time nor space will allow me to 
mention one in fifty of the hundreds of interesting and 
somewhat historical localities, such as islands, rivers, 
blufis, towns and cities, &c., &c., which we pass in our 
voyage. The first day and night we had fine sailing, 
fine weather, and fine times. For hours together, 
during the day-time, I promenaded the upper or hur- 
ricane deck, gazing at the surrounding country* with 
its variegated scenery. Now and then we met a large 
up-bound steamer, then again we passed a small fleet 
of flat boats, loaded with pork, flour, whisky, &c., 
floating down to New Orleans. 

When the shades of night gather round our floating 
hotel, we all flock to the spacious public saloon, some 
eighty feet long, tastily furnished, well lighted, with 
blazing fires, &c., &c. Newspapers, books, and reli- 
gious tracts are scattered round by some of the friendly 
passengers, for the mutual benefit of the whole. Some 
read, some talk, some sit in perfect silence, apparently 
buried in deep thought, while others amuse themselves 
with a game of chance. And not unfrequently from 
the ladies' cabin, which is just aft; of ours, and con- 
nected with it by folding doors, which for the most 
part are open, we arc cheered by delightfal singing. 



260 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

So far, for the most part, we have had a very agree- 
able set of passengers, but we constantly lose some of 
them, and as constantly have their vacancies filled up 
by new comers. 

For some four hundred miles we pass in the centre 
of this dividing line which separates freedom from the 
land of slavery, and to an observing eye the marked 
contrast is apparent at almost a single glance. On one 
side you see beautiful towns, flourishing villages, well 
cultivated farms, orchards, vineyards, public works, 
&c., &c., all conducted by ambitious-appearing, well- 
fed freemen. While on the other, primeval forests, 
barren sands, uncultivated fields, or fields but partially 
cultivated, with broken-down fences, with here and 
there ^few log cabins ; and a few apologies for villages 
in the shape of a store-house, at a miserable landing 
place, a cooper shop, blacksmith shop, a grocery store 
or two, and a few hen-coops mark the other side. 

During the first day of our voyage, as above re- 
marked, we went smoothly along, and so we did until 
about noon the second day, when all of a sudden we 
came smash upon the shoals, and were fairly grounded. 
All hands, some twenty in all, were summoned by the 
mate on the fore deck, to man out the spar poles to 
pry her off. At it . they went, prying, pulling, pad- 
dling, puffing and blowing, sometimes passengers, cap- 
tain and all, lent a hand to the tugs. Hours passed, 
and tug, tug, tug, was yet the order of the day — night 
came, and tug, tug, tug, still continued with unbroken 
monotony — morning came, and the tug-men were 
sweating and swearing over their spar pries. Noon 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 261 

came, night came, and also the next morning, before 
we were again afloat. Now we are borne along by 
the force of the current over the remaining shoals, 
sometimes broadside foremost; bump, bump, thump, 
thump, goes the buttt)m of our boat against the rocks, 
until fully and fairly over the last of them. Then the 
old engine begins to blow oil' its steam, piit^s on its 
power, puddling up the very sediments of those turbid 
waters, as it propels us along once more, right side up 
with care. Sometimes, in consequence of the dense 
clouds of fog* hanging over the river, we are obliged 
to lay up during the whole night, and occasionally 
until noon the next day. Sunday finally came, but 
on we went — the fact is, there is no Sabbath on these 
rivers, they work, run, swear and drink here, on Sun- 
days just as they do on any other day of the week. I 
took with me several packages of religious tracts, for 
the purpose of using on these occasions ; so on the 
Sabbath I scattered them round the saloons for the 
passengers, and personally handing some to the work- 
men of the boat. For a short time it seemed some- 
thing like Sunday, as some of us sat I'cading these lit- 
tle messengers of peace. 

In the evening, some of us went into the ladies' sa- 
loon and had a good sing in sacred song. The sound 
of Old Ilundred, Dundee, Delight, Ortonville, with 
several others of kindred character, made us think of 
other days, and other scenes. They carried us back, 
in short, in imagination, to those cherished circles and 
hallowed altars we left in the distant east. We are 
nearing the waters of the far-famed Mississippi, and 



262 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

shall soon be afloat upon them, with good luck. Now 
we are entering Cairo at the mouth of the Ohio. 



CAIRO AND THE MISSISSIPH. 

Cairo is a small village of about five hundred in- 
habitants, situated at the junction of the Ohio and 
Mississippi rivers, and has acquired considerable ce- 
lebrity by the repeated attempts which have been 
made to build up a large city on its site. Situated, as 
it is, at the junction of these two mighty rivers, it un- 
questionably presents one of the finest points for a 
great commercial city which can be found in the west ; 
being placed so as to command the immense and in- 
calculable trade of the whole west, north-west and 
south. It is on the Illinois shore, and tJae last point 
of free territory in a westerly direction until you get 
to Mexico or to Central America. The banks of the 
river are here very low, and the surrounding country 
is still lower. Both are subject to overflow, and from 
the marshy nature of the soil are generated miasmas, 
which render it'very unhealthy. But by a scientific 
system of embankment, filling up, and draining, all 
this may be overcome, and undoubtedly Will be. 

If sufficient inducements are held out to persons 
to remove and remain here, which I think must be 
the case^ it may then, under a wise system of im- 
provement, approximate in some good degree, in time, 
the dimensions of St. Louis and Cincinnati, if not ex- 
ceed them. It is already connected by railroad with 
St. Louis, Chicago, and through them to the whole 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 263 

east, and by steamboats to the wliole country of the 
upper Mississippi and the Missouri. We stopped liere 
only a few hours to get some fresh provisions and to 
take on a little freight, then we started; a few rods 
more will bring us into the father of rivers; all eyes 
are strained to get the first glimpse at the mighty 
river, that is, those of us who never before saw it. 
Here we pass directly into it, the Ohio is left behind, 
and we are fully and fairly afloat upon the mighty, 
muddy, rapidly rolling Mississippi — the longest, deep- 
est, muddiest, most rapid, and may I not add the most 
mysterious, most iamous, and most changing river on 
the globe. Its waters go tvnrling, rolling, dashing 
along, scarcely less tardily than an Olympus courser. 
Here it has formed a large island of more than ten 
thousand acres, covered over with polished, sparkling 
sands, giving it the appearance of a small lake. There 
is a stagnant river it made in times of yore, or since, 
some ten miles in length by one in breadth, dammed 
up at both ends, the earth or sands out of which it 
was graded, appearing some miles below in groups of 
islands. Yonder is the bed of a long, broad river, 
now dry as the deserts of Arabia, where fleets of 
steamers and flats e-mrsed, when where our noble craft 
now floats, beautiful plantations and flourishing vine- 
yards stood. A little below, some three or four Mis- 
sissippis appear, apparently of equal size, running 
side by side, or nearly so, puzzling us pa.ssengers not 
a little to guess which is the right road. Presently 
they all come together again, when we round a long 
point to the right and sail right up stream, right back 



264 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

again, apparently, then to the left, and sail down again 
like going round the letter S to gain the distance from 
the right angle to the left. After sailing some thirty 
miles round, we look some seven miles across and see 
where we were about two or three hours previous. 
Majestic, mighty Mississippi ! With its right fork and 
main tributary, the Missouri, it measures out six thou- 
sand seven hundred English miles, a distance nearly 
the entire diameter of the earth, and more than twice 
the width of the Atlantic ocean. 

At Cairo we took on a large company of passengers 
for Memphis, Tennessee, all southerners. These were 
the first southern gents we had as fellow passengers 
on the trip, so far. They were a haughty, aristocratic 
feeling set of fellows, whatever may have been the 
reahty of their pretensions to a pure southern aristo- 
cracy. One of them had his traveling physician with 
him, and another had a runaway slave whom he had 
overhauled somewhere near the land of freedom en 
route for Canada. And the balance I take to be gen- 
tlemen blacklegs of the Vicksburgh school, simon 
pure. So onward we move, through these far famed 
slavery waters, with northern and southern hfe pret- 
ty well represented on board. Here is a man, a full 
blooded northerner, geographically, politically and 
theologically so, hale, hearty and strong. He has 
amassed a small fortune by being his own nigger for 
these forty years past, and is now going to buy up a 
small portion of Texas to plant a small anti-slavery 
colony there. There is a pious Presbyterian merchant 
of Alabama, on his return Irom the west, which he 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 265 

thinks will not compare with his country at all. Uc 
thinks it a great pity that the Missouri compromise 
compact was ever disturbed by Congress, and that to 
enfranchise so many foreigners is going to ruin the 
nation, but that it is perfectly right to hang any norbli-. 
em man, minister, deacon, or elder, who should have 
the temerity to say a word to a slave in the south about 
freedom or the evils of the Institutiux. Yonder is 
a New Yorker of some heavy firm, not a great way 
off from the corner of Broadway and Wall street, on 
a collecting tour south, as al?o soliciting now custom. 
He draws up around the table next to our slavery dea- 
con, and commences a tirade of abuse against the 
north, at the same time, as a matt(>r of couise, apolo- 
gizes strongly for southern Institutions. Says he, 
*' They would hold slaves in New York if they could." 
"I believe you, I believe you," replied our deacon. 
"New York," continued the northern sage of the 
counting-room, " is doing more to perpetuate slavery 
and the slave trade than the whole south." "That's it, 
that's it, I agree with you," responded old Alabama, 
" tickled all over," as black Jim says. IIow fat a cus. 
tomer this tool of pelf found in^his newly made south- 
ern friend I don't know. " Come," says he, when an 
hour or two of talk had made them quite familial-, "let 
us go to the bar and take some, what will you drink, 
sir?" "Well," replied the deacon, "I guess a httl© 
brandy." So after having paid a hearty libation to 
Bacchus, at it they went again, and struck up a five 
thousand dollar bargain, for aught I know. Over yon- 
der, seated on the mail-bags, behind the public saloon 
12 



266 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

door, sits another soutliern gentleman, on his return 
from the west also, but the great God made him black 
instead of white, for which he now sits in chains, 
watched by his master and by officers, lest he should 
venture another journey -north in quest of freedom. 
Got a chance to talk with him occasionally, having 
learned his history somewhat. Said I to him, " What 
did you runaway for. Jack, did not you know better 
than to runaway ?" " No, massa, Ise foolish, Ise do 
rong, Ise sorry for it, wants to go back gin to ole boss." 
"You will never try it again, will you ?" " No massa^ 
no nebber, nebber, me git home gin to ole bosses." 
"Well, but would you not like to be free, be your 
own man?" said I. "No, massa, no," continued he. 
He took me for a slave-holder, sounding him as to the 
quality of property contained in his blood and bones, 
and answered accordingly, evidently hoping I would 
buy him and thus cause him to escape the dungeon, 
the whipping post, the block, or the far, far off south- 
ern plantations. I knew how to take him, I knew 
that he said one thing to please his master and the 
slave-holders, while he, from the great deep of his soul 
meant another thing. ^ 

We were moving rapidly along, within hailing dis- 
tance of Memphis. The bluffs here, for miles together, 
present both a grand and sublime spectacle, walled 
up by the hand of nature some hundred or hundred 
and fifty feet high, of solid granite, in some places re- 
sembling not a little the massive banks of the Niagara 
under the Suspension Bridge. 

In other places the banks of this river are composed 



SLAVKUV UNMASK EH. 267 

of a sort of hard, red sand, seme fifty or sixty feet 
high. Then again its waters in the eentro of the 
stream appear higlier, and in n-ality are liigher than 
the surrounding eountr^- on either side. Uero we eoine 
up to Memphis, the ehief city of Tennessee, but the 
sandy bluffs are so higli as to quite conceal the city 
from public view at the levee. Made a halt here for 
nearly twenty-four hours, to unload fi'eight, aa well as 
take on several hundred tons more in the shape of cot- 
ton bales for New Orleans. And here, also, most of 
our southern passengers, already mentioned, got off. 
In the number was the poor fugitive and his master. 
The master appeared to be a good-natured, frce-and- 
ea-y sort of fellow, but a cunning, crafty slave-holder 
after all. He stopped to sell his man Jim at public 
auction, there being a large slave-auction here. " Now 
Jim," says he to the man, "if they ask you if you are 
a runaway, you tell them no, and I will give you a 
new hat." " That's right, massa, I'se the boy to tell 
um so," replied Jim, as they started off together for 
the slave-market. Some of our passengers followed 
to witness the sale. Presently our fellow-passenger of 
the coffles was called forward, placed on the stand, was 
felt of, examined, and questioned by the numerous 
dealers in the bodies and souls of men. " What 's 
your name?" asks one in the crowd. "Jim," an- 
swered the boy. "Jim, eh," vociferated the inquirer, 
" well, that's a good nigger name." " How old are 
you, boy?" "Don't noes zackly, reckons how I'me 
thirty-five." "Pretty old boy, for thirty-five," says 
another, who appears to question the age of the prop- 



268 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

ertj by some fifteen or twenty years. " You are a 
runaway," says another, " and you are not worth 
having." " I'se no runaway, am I massa ?" says he 
to his master. "No, no, Jim, you are no runaway, 
but a good, steady boy ; guess I'll have yqu down 
from there soon, if no better opinion is formed of you, 
than some of tliese gentlemen are so gratuitously be- 
stowing on you." "No, gemmens, I'se no runaway, I'se 
good boy what kin do de work ob de gemmens good 
as any boy. I'se de boy for de work — hoe corn, 
pick cotton, dig um sweet tater, wid ebery ting else to 
do ; I'se de boy for gemmens to buy," he would now 
and then say, evidently wishing to help on the sale of 
his own body and part, for the new hat was a prize 
worth his best efforts on the present occasion, having 
been bare-headed or hatless for weeks past. Finally, 
there was a bid got up on him of five hundred dollars 
— six hundred — seven hundred — seven hundred and 
fifty — eight hundred — nine hundred — nine hundred 
and fifty, — the hammer goes down with a smash, and 
off goes poor Jim to a nigger drovier, as hatless as 
ever. The master pockets the thousand dollars, minus 
fifty, chuckling over his good fortune. " Oood trade, 
after all," says he, in an under tone, to a looker-on, 
" for a dead horse.'' " I say. Bill," continued ho to 
his friend, " nine hundred and fifty dollars is not to be 
sneezed at for a runaway, is it ?" " No," replied his 
friend Bill, and added, " the nigger will be oft" before 
night, and np through Old Kentucky again in a few 
days, unless he coffles and collars him." " That's his 
own look out," rephed this dealer in human blood and 



SLAVERY UXMASKKH. 269 

bones, " I've got tlie rliino, and lie the nigger, and 
now he may go to Canada or elsewhere for all me." 

Poor Jim ! I could but think of him. By almost 
superhuman efforts in traveling nights, living on 
ground nut.s, roots and bushes, and for weeks together 
wading through swamps, crossing rivers, j)lungiiig 
through bayous, and avoiding all places of ])ublic 
travel, he had succeeded in making his way from the 
lower part of Arkansas to within a few miles of Ohio, 
and was there captured, brought back to this slave- 
market, and sold to a southern trader for the New Or- 
leans trade. He will undoubtedly soon be shi])ped off 
with hundreds more of his own breed for this great 
mart of human souls, and there sold, body, soul and 
spirit, to some Epps, Legree, or to some of their neigh- 
bors up on Red river, and used up like Old Uncle 
Tom in a few short years. Ah, as I have more than 
once informed you, these slave auctions are barba- 
rous, horrid sights to behold, by a civilized, humane 
person. They are behind the spirit of the age, as 
much so as the heathen gladiatorial combats of Pagan 
Eome under the reigns of Nero and Caligula, of bloody 
memory. And yet, these heathen, horrid, anti-repub- 
lican, anti-human practices, are to be witnessed in all 
the southern cities, where they arc sanctioned by time, 
supported by law, enforced by religion, defended by the 
church, taught from the pulpit, propagated by Congress- 
men, and apologized for by some northern divines. 
And all this, to assist three hundred thousand proud, 
haughty, aristocratic, tyrannical men, to ride over and 
grind into the dust nearly four millions of native-bom 



270 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

Americans, more than "half of whom are of Anglo- 
Saxon origin. And then to look upon and treat the 
remaining six millions, composing the balance of south- 
em whites, as an inferior race to themselves, and but a 
step above the chattel breed. Oh, the mischief of this 
national, civil, social, moral and ecclesiastical incubus 
and curse, — who can calculate its extent ? There are 
some people I have seen, whose sympathies have been 
excited upon the subject of slavery, who, nevertheless, 
if they can be satisfied the slaves have enough to eat, 
think it is all well, — there is nothing more to be said 
or done. They are better off, say they, under such 
circumstances, than many of the poor whites north. 
NoAv if slaves were mere animals, whose only or chief 
employment consisted in the gratification of their 
bodily appetites, there would be some show of sense 
in this conclusion. But the fact is, however crushed 
and brutified these poor beings are, they are still men; 
men whose bosoms beat with the same high aspirations 
— the same ardent, boundless desire to improve their 
condition, the same wishes for what they have not, the 
same indifference towards what they have, the same 
restless love of social superiority, the same greediness 
of acquisition, the same desire to know, the same im- 
patience of all external control, as other men. The 
tremendous excitement which the singular case of Cas- 
per Ilauser produced, a few years ago, in Germany, is 
still remembered by thousands now living. From the 
representations of that enigmatical personage, it was 
believed that those from whose custody he declared 
himself to have escaped, had endeavored to destroy 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 271 

his iutellect, or rather to prevent it from being devel- 
oped, so as to detain him forever in a state of infantile 
imbecility. This suj)posed attempt at what they saw 
fit to denominate the murder of tue soul, gave rise 
to great discussions among the German jurists, and 
they soon raised it into a new crimc^, which they 
placed at the very lioad of social enormities. It is 
this crime, tue murder of tue soul, which is in 
the course of continuous and perpetual perpetration 
throughout the soutli, by churches, deacons, elders, 
leaders, ministers, and all other graceless dealers, rob- 
bers, and mongers in the bodies, souls and spirits of 
men. 

For the extirpation of tliis insult to Christendom 
and curse of the age, let us strike, strike, strike. 
Strike blows that will writhe, reel, burn ; strike on the 
Sabbath, strike on the week-days, strike at home and 
strike abroad, strike with the tongue, with the vote, 
and keep on striking until the last pro-slavocrat shall 
be piu'ged from the nation. 

MEMPHIS. 

Memphis, as already mentioned, is the chief city of 
Tennessee, and by the boatmen called the half-way 
house between Cincinnati and New Orleans. It is 
beautifully situated on the fourth Chickasaw bhiff, just 
below the mouth of Wolf river. This spot was for- 
merl}^ the site of Fort Assumption, and used for the 
purpose of protecting the country against the Chicka- 
saws, to chastise whom a French army of nearly four 



272 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

thousand, wliite, red and black were gathered here. 
They remained in a state of inactivity from the sum- 
mer of 1739 to the spring of 1740, during which time 
hundreds of them sickened and died, when in March, 
of the last named year, peace was concluded. The 
bluff on which it stands is some thirty feet above the 
highest floods, and its base is washed by the river for 
a distance of three miles, with a bed of sand-stone, the 
only known stratum of rocks below the Ohio to Yicks- 
burgh, a distance of six hundred miles ; it is the only 
site for a commercial mart on either side of the Missis- 
sippi. The appearance of Memphis from the centre of 
the river is very beautiful and imposing. Some dis- 
tance from the brow of the bluff a handsome range of 
fine buildings extends for several squares, and gives 
an air of business to it which is manifested by few pla- 
ces of its size. This point has been selected by the 
United States government for the erection of a new 
navy yard, and the necessary buildings for that pur- 
pose are now all completed, on a large scale. Several 
of us went down and examined them. The beautiful 
situation of Memphis, and its connection with a fine 
and fertile country, together with the great distance 
from any other point on the river where a large city 
could be built, give it superior adviintages in becoming 
a place of great importance. Immense quantities of 
cotton are grown in the interior country, and this is 
the principal mart and shipjjing point for it. About 
one hundred and fifty thousand bales of cotton are an- 
nually shipped from this place. It contains at present 
some six churches, an academy, two medical colleges, 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 273 

some few private schools, a large number of stores, a 
telegraph office, and a population of some twelve or 
fifteen thousand. 

About seven o'clock in the evening I put on my 
cloak and left the long and pleasantly lighted saloon 
for an evening ramble through the city, in quest of 
some sight-seeing wonders. Passed up over the levee 
on to the ridge of the bluff; here I saw little less than 
a hundred camp-fires lighted and blazing for a mile or 
so up and down the bunk of the river, — the city not 
being lighted with gas made them shine the brighter, 
apparently so, at least. Around these fires encamped 
were some hundreds of negroes, overseers, drivers, dro- 
viers, oxen, horses, jacks, mules, and covered wagons 
without end, having the appearance, somewhat, of the 
baggage train of an army of invasion. These grounds, 
I learned, were the hotel accommodations for the poor 
SERVANTS, SLAVES, who come from the interior 
country to market, and to bring down the cotton for 
shipment, and themselves, some of them, for the block 
on the morrow, &c. The large seven and ten horse 
wagons were- posted j ust on the outer edge of the 
camp, the horses, jacks and mules hitched to the pon- 
derous wheels, and the fire in the centre. These ap- 
pearances were rearsouthem, and half heathen, I will 
assure you, to my New England eye. To see these 
poor creatures gather round their fires at an unseason- 
able hour to prepare their supper of roasted sweet 
potatoes and hoe cake — jack-knives and fingers ser- 
ving for plates, knives and forks, and the water of the 
muddy Mississippi for tea and coffee, made me realize 
12* 



274 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

the fact that I was in a slave country again. But they 
(poor creatures) took it all in good part ; they ate and 
drank, and chattered, and whistled, and sung as hap- 
pily for the time-being as the inmates of an opera, if 
not more so, for their task was done for that day, af- 
fording a few moments repose. The lash was still, the 
overseers and drivers were most of them off to some 
place of public amusement or revelry, no doubt, and 
none to watch them but the city patrol, save now and 
then an imderstrapper in the shape of a sub-driver, so 
nigh on a level with themselves as to impose little or 
no restraints upon them. Being rather fantastically 
dressed, they reminded me of the Dutchman's rag, tag 
and bobtail, some in grey, some in drab, some in sheep's 
wool color, some in short jackets, some in no jackets, 
and some in ante-diluvian over-coats hanging in shreds. 
After finishing their meal they would sit round their 
fires like groups of wild Indians and amuse themselves 
in singing, and for the want of a more sentimental 
taste, or a better cultivated moral and intellectual 
state of mind, they would substitute such as the fol- 
lowing low and almost ludicrous specimens : — 

" City ho, city ho, whar ole boss lub-ura go, 
Lobe-vim liquor, lobe-um liquor, so it be wid dis nigger, 
Rho, row, re ro — rho, row, re ro, 
City ho, city ho," &c. 

As a nation, we reflect but little honor upon our- 
selves, I mean the professedly religious portions, by 
sending thousands and tens of thousands, nay hun- 
dreds of thousands of dollars annually for the conver--* 
sion of the heathen world, while we have millions of 



SLAVKHY UNilASKED. 275 

heatben in our very midst^ with no missionaries among 
them but slavery propagandists. Where masters, 
churches, ministers and laymen exist, having no aflini- 
tics in common with the age in which they live, who 
arc a thousand years behind the age ; in short, whose 
institutions, tastes and aspirations are identified witli 
the darkest and most gloomy periods of the history of 
our race. And yet they are a part of us, of our great 
whole as a nation. May not we northerners, with 
propriety, in view of this humiliating fact, exclaim, 
Oh I wretched men that we are, who will deliver us 
from the body of this death ? How long is the north 
doomed to so uncomfortable, so disgraceful an alliance 
— to be chained to this body of death, this bleaching, 
putrescent carcass of moral and political death — ruin- 
ous to the south, ruinous to the north, fatal to liberty, 
and a very contamination to the heathen world, shaken 
from the stars and stripes of our land ? Sliall it last 
forever ? or until it swamps our whole country in revo- 
lution, or until in consequence we shall be stricken 
out from the roll of living nations and be no more ? 
No, forbid it heaven, forbid it, oh Almighty God, for- 
bid it, dear readers who have a tongue to speak and 
an arm to strike. The voice of more than three mil- 
lions of poor down-trodden slaves, added to those of 
over six millions of white southern plebians, call upon 
you to strike for freedom. God and our country call 
upon you to do it, and you dare not, you will not 
prove recreant to so loud and so imperious a call. 
There is no neutrality, no standing still in this war, 
the moment we cease our efforts, we lose ground. 



276 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

while eternal vigilance is . the watch-word of the 
enemy. What do you suppose the defiant boast of 
the south is ? Why, that they will never stop until 
they can call the roll of their niggers under the shadow 
of Bunker Hill. So they say, and so they swear. We 
shall see. 



VICKSBURGH. 

During the night that we laid at the Memphis levee, 
a poor man was drowned by falling overboard from 
our boat. He was a laboring man, came on board a 
day or two before, to go down the river, lent an assist- 
ing hand in loading cotton, made a misstep, and 
plunged head foremost into the river, and by the cur- 
rent was swept under the boat and drowned. Poor 
man 1 . my reflections were saddened by the occurrence. 
He became a sort of voluntary martyr in gratifying 
the generous zeal of his nature, to render assistance 
where it was wanted, in doing which he lost his life 
— fell overboard, and sunk to rise no more. The next 
morning we started, and this our fellow passenger, 
was left in the bottom of the Mississippi. Being an en- 
tire stranger on board, he had no relative or even friend 
to look after him. All felt bad, and pitied his untime- 
ly fate. Ah, truly, thought I, in the midst of life we 
are in death. At some point down the river, perhaps 
he had a wife, a mother, or some other dear friend or 
friends, whose greeting he expected soon to share ; 
watchful e3^es and eager expectations were doubtless 
posted at their gateways ; but the husband, the son. 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 277 

the fi'icnd came not. Hours succeed hour of cruel 
suspense — days and nights pass, fraught with unhappy 
forebodings respecting the missing one, and weeks and 
months, and even years, are yet to pass, and they know 
nothing of his fate, never more to meet him until tlie 
trump shall gound, and the sea deliver ujd the dead 
which is in it. 

Soon after leaving Memphis, probably a half day's 
ride, brings us alongside tlic Arkansas shore, which is 
a rough and tumble country, I assure you, suflicient to 
make even the bears and wolves, and rattlesnakes, to 
whom it ought to belong, homesick, I should judge. 
Soon we passed the mouth of the Arkansas river. A 
word or two with regard to this river, as it is one of 
the tributaries of the Mississippi. This river from 
wdiich the State derives its name, is next to the Missouri, 
the largest western tributary of the Mississippi. The 
length of this stream, which is said to meander a long 
distance in the Rocky Mountains, following its course, 
is about two thousand miles. It pours , a broad and 
deep stream from the mountains upon the arid and 
sandy plains below. The sand and the dry surround- 
in"- atmosphere, say the river men, absorb the water to 
such a degree, that in many seasons it may be forded 
man}' hundred miles below the mountains. And 
some of its tributaries arc so impregnated with salt, as 
to render even the waters of the main s-.rcam unpalat- 
able. The alluvial earth along its banks contains so 
much salt, that the cattle are said sometimes to be 
killed by eating it. To the distance of about four 
hundred miles from its mouth, it has many lakes and 



278 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

bajous. In high water, it is navigable for steamboats 
as high up as Cantonment Gibson, at the mouth 
of Grand river, by water seven hundred and fifty 
miles. 

On we move, on the surface of this muddy, rolling, 
whirling, fumbling Mississippi, with slavery on one 
side and slavery on the other side — on our right, Ar- 
kansas, and on our left Mississippi, both of which bear 
the impress and curse of the " peculiar institution." 

Presently we came in sight of Vicl^burgh, where 
we landed, and stayed some three hours. It being the 
Sabbath, I went up town and found a church, where 
a preacher was holding forth to a crowded house of 
colored j^eople, all slaves. It was a Methodist church, 
or a Methodist slave-preaching room, where some 
three hundred or more of these poor, ignorant, down- 
trodden of our race were being indoctrinated into the 
duties they owed to God and their masters, by a white 
man. Whether he was one of the regular preachers 
of the city, or whether he was a salaried chaplain, em- 
ployed by the owners of these human cattle to preach 
to them SLAVERY and the gospel, I did not learn. The 
poor things were very attentive, very devotional, ma- 
king fi'equent and loud responses to the preacher's talk. 
To anj-thing that pleased them in the discourse, they 
would cry out, "yes — yes — just so — that's right, 
massa," sufficiently loud to be heard two or three 
squares off. Their singing was loud, pathetic and 
heavenly — more thrilling, more spirit-moving by far, 
than any of their white preaching or praying in these 
parts. Simple, devoted souls — they will inherit 



SLAVERY UN.M AS K i: 1 ). 2 7L> 

estates, in the other world far above their masters' 
pkiutations and masters' wealtli, I thought. 

Vicksburgh is the county-scat, of Warren county, 
Mississippi. It is situated on a hill, tin; liighcst part 
of which is two hundred feet above high water mark. 
The principal business part of the city is situated on 
the boltoni, :dong the river. It was incorporated as u 
town in 1825, and as a city in 1880. The cotuitry 
surrounding it is a black, loamy soil, well adapted to 
the cultivation of all kinds of grain, tobacco, cotton, 
&c. The principal product, however, is cotton, of 
which some seventy thousamd to one hundred thous- 
and bales are annually shipped from here. The city 
contains about five thousand inhabitants, several pub- 
lic buildings, a good levee, &c., kc. : but it has such a 
dull and anti-progressive appearance, when contrasted 
with places of its size with you in the east, as to make 
one homesick. This place, reader, you will recollect, 
became somewhat notorious, sonic years ago, for the 
summary proceedings taken against the gamblers and 
gentlemen blacklegs, who infested it to so great a 
degree as to threaten the entire destruction of the wel- 
fare and morals of the whole community. A public 
meeting of the citizens was held, and warning given to 
to all gamblers who frequented the city, to remove with- 
in a given time. They refused to do so, and manifested 
a determination to overawe and break down public au- 
thority. The citizens thereupon united, and having 
caught a number of them, conducted them a short dis- 
tance from the city, and publicly executed several of 
them by hanging. Ever since, I am informed, this pro- 



-280 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

fessional class of traveling gentry are exceedinglj^ scarce 
in Vicksburgli. They are a savage, ferocious set 6f 
men, inhabiting these localities, you may rightly judge, 
with whom the shedding of human blood and the 
taking of human life is neither a rare nor a very aw- 
ful occurrence. They can hang gamblers, fight duels, 
separate families, chain, imprison and torture negroes, 
with as good a grace here, perhaps, as in any other 
place on the face of this green earth. 

Here we lost some of our fellow passengers, but 
their places were supplied by others, who took pas- 
sage for New Orleans. After taking on a little addi- 
tional freight, we fired up and started oif in the direc- 
tion of the down stream country, and the next day, 
about noon, arrived at Grand Gulf, where we lost a 
whole family of the best passengers on board, who 
came the whole way from Cincinnati here on the 
Hungarian. The man was a native of Indiana, and 
formely a Methodist, but now in a backslidden state — 
was an excellent singer. We sang many of the old- 
fashioned tunes in the hymns of our Methodist 
collection. I talked with him on the subject of reli- 
gion : he felt, and thought of other years, and doubt- 
less secretly resolved to again renew his strength, and 
walk the heavenly road. 

Another man fell overboard and was drowned from 
our boat. He was an Irishman, supposed to be in li- 
quor, and a steerage passenger. It occurred about mid- 
night: he was at the stern of the boat, carelessly look- 
ing into the river, until finally losing his balance, he 
went overboard and was seen no more. Alas for the 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 



281 



unfortunate — how many have slept tlicir last sleep in 
this mi"-hty river, and how many will rise in the last 
day from its bed, God only knows. Searcely less, we 
conjecture, than from the ocean's coral depths. And 
those who find a grave here arc more illy prepared to 
brook the fearful retributions of that dreadful eternity, 
into which they so unceremoniously enter, than most 
men : for God, Heaven, and eternal things arc seldom 
thought of on these waters, at least by the great 
masses that float on them. 



NATCHEZ. 



Soon after leaving Grand Gulf, we found ourselves 
at the levee of Natchez, the chief city in the State of 
Mississippi. Natchez is an old city ; it was founded in 
1700, by D'Iberville, who had been sent out from 
France, to conclude the explorations begun by La 
Salle, but which had so unfortunately terminated by 
his death. D'Iberville proposed to found a city here, 
to be named in honor of the Countess of Tontchar- 
train, Rosalie. In 1714, the fort called Rosalie was 
built on this spot, then occupied by the Natchez, a 
powerful and intelligent tribe of Indians, in the valley 
of the Mississippi. The city is romanticaUy situated on 
a very high bluff of the cast bank of the river, and ia 
much the largest town, as above remarked, in the 
State. The river business is transacted in that part of 
the city which is called " Under (he IMC Great nimi- 
bers of boats are always lying here, and some very 
respectable merchants reside in this part of the city. 



2S2 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

Tlie ujoper town is elevated on the summit of tlie bluff, 
some three hundred feet above the level of the river, 
and commands a fine prospect of the surrounding 
landscape. The country on the eastern bank is wav- 
ing, rich and beautiful, the eminences presenting open 
woods, covered with grape-vines, and here and there 
neat country houses. This part of the town is quiet, 
the streets broad, some of the public buildings are 
handsome, and the whole, in short, has the appearance 
of comfort and opulence. Many rich planters live 
here, and the society is not only polished and refined, 
but highly aristocratic. It is the principal town in 
this region for the shipment of cotton, with bales of 
which, at the proper season of the year, the streets 
are almost barricaded, and it is the market for the 
trade of the numerous population of the contiguous 
country. Notwithstanding the elevation and apparent 
healthmess of the city, it has often been visited by 
the yellow fever. It is doubtless owing to this circum- 
stance, not a little, that the population does not in 
crease so fast as might be expected from its eligible 
position. It is at present supposed to contain some 
fifteen hundred houses, and about eight thousand in- 
habitants. 

Natchez was visited, you will recollect, in 1840 by 
a tremendous tornado, which swept through the city 
with great destruction,overwhelming many of the finest 
buildings, and leaving all in its path a mass of ruins. 
It has now, however, recovered from this shock 
scarcely any vestiges of which can be seen. A few 
hours after leaving Natchez, we pass the mouth of 



SLAVERY UXMASKED, 283 

Red River, a place rontlcred almost rlassical, reader, 
you Avill recollect, by A[rs. Stowc, in licr celebrated 
work, " Uncle Tom's Cabin." A great many recollec- 
tions of the past were awakened in my mind, as we 
passed this spot. I saw, in imagination the craft that 
bore old Uncle Tom, Legrce, and all his band of chat- 
ties, as it rounded the point, and passed up that river. 
Here also I thought of poor Solomon Northrup, twelve 
years a slave up the valley of this stream, old Epps, &c- 
As you, reader, arc familiar with the history of the 
tragic scenes above alluded to, you will allow me to 
give here a description of the river and country where 
they were transacted. The Red River takes its rise 
in a chain of hills, near Santa Fe, iu New Mexico, 
called the Caous Mountains. In its upper course it 
receives the waters of Blue River and False Wachita. 
It winds through a region of prairies, on which feed 
droves of Buffiilo, cattle, and wild horses. These im- 
mense prairies are of a red soil — hence the name of 
the river — covered with grass and white vines, which 
bear the most delicious grapes. It receives a great 
many tributaries, that water an almost boundless re- 
gion of prairies, forests, bottoms, and highlands. 
Much of this country is exceedingly fertile, and capa- 
ble of producing cotton, sugar-cane, grapes, indigo, 
rice, tobacco, Indian corn, and also most of the pro- 
ductions of the more northern regions. The width of 
its channel, for four hundred miles before it enters 
into the Mississippi, does not correspond with its 
leno-th, or the immense mass of waters which it 
collects in its course from the Rocky Mountams. 



284 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

In higli waters, when it has arrived within three or 
four hundred miles of its mouth, it is often divided 
into two or tliree channels, and spreads itself into a 
line of bayous and lakes, which take up its supera- 
bundance of waters, and are a considerable time in fill- 
ing, and prevent the river from displaying its breadth 
and amount of -waters, as it does in high lands, 
five hundred miles above. About ninety miles above 
Natchitoches, conmiences what is called the "Eafts," 
which is nothing more than an immense swampy 
alluvial of the river, to the width of twenty or 
thirty miles. The river here, spreading into a vast 
number of channels, frequently shallow, of course has 
been for ages clogging np with a compact mass of tim- 
ber and fallen trees, wafted from the regions above. 
Between these masses, the river has a channel, which 
is sometimes lost in a lake, and found again by follow- 
ing the outlet of that lake back to the parent channel. 
There is no stage of water, I am told, in which a keel 
boat, with an experienced pilot, may not make its way 
through the Raft. The river is blocked up with this 
immense mass of timber, a distance, by its meanders, 
of between sixty and seventy miles. There are places 
where the water can be seen in motion under the loss : 
in other places, the whole width of the river may be 
crossed on horse back. Weeds, flowering shrubs, and 
small willows, have taken root upon the surface of this 
lumber, and flourish above the waters. It is an im- 
pediment of incalculable injury to the navigation of 
this large river and the immense extent of country 
above it There is probably no part of the United 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 285 

States, where the unoccupied hinds have higher chaims, 
from soil, climate, intermixture of prairies and tim- 
bered lands, position, and every inducement to poj)ula- 
tion, than the country above tlie Haft, where the river 
becomes broad, deep, and navigable for steamboats, in 
moderate stages of water, for nearly one thousand 
miles towards the mountains. The state of Louisiana 
has made an effort to have it removed, and the General 
Government have made an apj)ropriation, and caused 
an inquiry of survey to be made for the same purpose. 
This interesting river has a width of three or four 
miles, as high as Kiamesia, nearl}'' one thousand miles 
from its mouth. It widens, however, as it slopes to- 
wards the Mississijipi, and has, for a long distance from 
its mouth, a valley of from six to eighteen miles in 
width. Of all the broad and fertile alluvials of the 
Mississippi streams, no one exceeds this. It compares 
in many more points with the famous Nile, than the 
Mississi))}>i, to which that river has so often been liken- 
ed. But all this beautiful country belongs to the 
Slave Power. 

BATON ROUGE. 

About one hundred miles below the niouth of lied 
River we passed Baton ]{ouge, which is situated in 
east Baton liouge parish, and is the capital of Louis- 
iana. The city is handsomely situated on the last bluff 
that is seen in descending the river. The bluff rises 
from the river by a gentle and gradual swell, and the 
town, as seen from the river, rising so regularly and 
beautifully from the banks, with its singularly sha- 



286 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

ped French and Spanisli houses, and its green squares, 
presents very nearly the appearance of a finely paint- 
ed landscape. It is without controversy, one of the 
most beautiful and pleasantlj^ situated places on the 
lower Mississi23pi. The United States Government 
has here an extensive arsenal, with barracks of several 
hundred soldiers, and a fine hospital. The barracks 
are built in fine style, and present a handsome appear- 
ance from the river. From the esplanade, the pros- 
pect is both grand and delightful, commanding a great 
extent of the coast, with its handsome houses and rich 
cultivation, plantations below, and an extensive view 
of the back country at the east. There is here, also, 
a land-office of the United States, a court house, the 
penitentiary of the state, four churches, an academy 
and college, and a splendid state house. The popula- 
tion is about four thousand, two thousand of whom 
are probably slaves. Fifteen miles below, we pass 
Bayou Manchac, or Iberville, which is an outlet of the 
Mississippi, on the cast side, uniting with Amite river, 
and which falls into lake Maurepas. It is navigable 
for small vessels, I am told, only three mouths in the 
year. Eight miles below, wo. pass the famous Bayou 
Placquamiue, on the right side, which afibrds the best 
communication to the rich and extensive settlements 
of Attakapas and Opelousas. It is navigable for small 
crafts, for some miles in the interior, and its banks are 
lined with perhaps some of the most splendid and pro- 
ductive sugar and cotton plantations in the country. 
Here is where the poor captured fugitives and the 
refractory of the more northern slave states, are ship- 



SLAVKUY UNMASKED. 287 

pcd, sold, wliip})cd, and worked up, body and .soul, to 
aggrandize these lordly, popish descendants of France 
and Spain. Tliough tlic wealthiest, most beautiful, 
and most conveniently located of the whole south, yet 
none of the states are so much dreaded by the slaves 
as Louisiana. I do not know how to account for this 
fact, except it be that the people here arc mostly 
ROMANISTS, with whom Incpiisition and blood come 
natural. 

This is, without exception, the most beautiful por- 
tion of country that it has been my fortune ever to set 
eyes upon. For hours together, as I promenade the 
upper deck, in this delightful, balmy atmosphere, my 
eye is lost in one vast, boundless, mighty expanse, all 
as level, nay, lower than the waters on which I float. 
Here arc plantations embracing thousands of acres of 
the richest land on this globe, belonging to single 
planters, who perhaps own from four hundred to six 
hundred slaves each, all in the highest state of culti- 
* vation, or apparently so, from my stand point at least. 
Nothing in old Virginia, the Carolinas, nor in Georgia, 
will compare with it in wealth, and beauty, that I saw 
while there. Here my ideal of southern grandeur, 
wealth, magnificence, &c., were not only fully realized 
but a little exceeded. For scores of miles within a 
day's ride of New Orleans, the princely mansions of 
planters and catholic priests, resembled not a little I 
thought, the palaces of European monarchs. What 
a pity, thought I to myself, as I looked over this 
splendid scene, that so fine a country should be pollu- 
ted by slavery and domineered over by papists. But, 



288 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

SO it is, and so it will continue to be, until Protestant 
Americans, and anti-slavery men shall come up to tlie 
work, and fully discharge the duties they owe to them- 
selves, to their country, and to their God. 

Thirty-five miles below, on the right, is the bayou 
La Fourchie. This bayou is well settled on both sides, 
for nearly thirty leagues. It also affords another 
communication to the Attakapas and Opelousas set- 
tlement. Donaldsonville, just below the mouth of the 
bayou, was the former capital of the state of Louisiana. 
This place is very pleasantly located, and has some fine 
buildings, among which are the court house, United 
States arsenal, state house. United States land office, 
&c. It Ls also a place of considerable trade and wealth, 
and while the capital remained there, was improving 
rapidly. The removal of that to Baton Rouge, will, 
as a matter of course, operate much against the inter- 
est and advancement of the place. Its population 
amounts to some two thousand, with probably an 
equal number of slaves. 

Ilere the Mississippi is broad, deep, and majestic in 
its bearing, resembling somewhat Seneca Lake, minus 
the quality of its clear, sluggish waters. Large ships 
from the Gulf, and from the Atlantic ocean come up 
as fiir as here for sugar and cotton. Some eighty 
miles lower down we passed Carrolton, which appears 
to be a thriving, stirring place. It is the residence of 
many business men belonging to New Orleans, from 
which it is distant only seven miles, and to which it is 
connected, not only by the river, but by a railroad, on 
which commodious passenger cars pass almost every 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 289 

hour of tlie day. There is, at Carrol ton, a most beautiful 
public garden, laid out in fine t;istc, and a hotel attach- 
ed, with ample accommodations for visitors. This is the 
daily resort of hundreds from the city, during the 
spring, summer and fall months, and affords a most 
agreeable retreat for all, from the heat and bustle of 
the citj. Its population is one thousand. Here is 
where I caught the first glimpse of the Crescent City. 
From the hurricane deck of the Ilungarian, I espied 
the gilded rotunda of the St. Charles looming up above 
the intervening forest trees, reminding us of the close 
proximity of some great city. Next we saw a forest 
of masts heaving up from what looked like *a thou- 
sand ships — then a forest of smoke pipes, from what 
appeared a thousand steamers. Now we come up to 
them, pass them, ships, steamers, floats, rafts, ferries, 
levees, &c., &c., until we reach the foot of Poydras 
street, where we come up to the levee, and wheel into 
line with a thousand or more steamers. 
13 



CHAPTER X/ 



NEW ORLEANS, 



Here I am, fairly and safely landed in this city of 
wonders ; for such it is indeed, both with regard to the 
material of which it is composed, as also to the posi- 
tion it occupies. Here you come in contact with al- 
most all nations, kindred, tongues and people under 
the whole heavens, or that swarm the face of tliis 
green earth : also all religions — Jews, Gentiles, Pagans, 
Mahometans, Protestants, Catholics, gold worshipers, 
disciples ot mammon, and lovers of pleasure more 
than lovers of God. Upon the walks and in the hotels 
the foreign accents of French, Spanish, German, Italian, 
Russian, Chinese, &c., &c., fall upon your ear with 
harsh discordant echoes. Here also, as in most other 
large cities, one is pained with so often beholding 
squalid poverty, so strangely and painfully contrasting 
with princely wealth and grandeur. But so it is, and 
so it has been, I suppose, from tlie commencement of 
our world's history until now, and will doubtless con- 
tinue so unto its end. Here also the human kind may 
be seen in all its variety, and human nature developed 
in all its infinite phases, from the polished lady and 
gentleman of high moral worth, to the most degraded 
cut throat that ever disgraced the records of humanity. 
Upon an elevated stand-point on Front street, twenty 



SLAVERY UNMASK Kl>. 291 

thousand men may bo seen upon the spacious levee, at 
work, resembling very much a vast swarm of bees, 
rolling and tumbling over each other, among whom 
may be found bpatmcn, bankers, merchants, lumber- 
men, speculators, passengers, pedlars, lawyers, doctors, 
ministers, news-boys, n(^gro.\s, gossip})crs, mongers, 
hawkers, sportsmen, dandies, showmen, criers, rob- 
bers, blacklegs, cut tliroats and pirates, and also that 
hyena of his race, the slave-trader, hated of God and 
despised by men. This levee is said to be some ten 
miles in length. Now ascend an elevated stand-point 
and cast your vision over this stirring panoramic scene, 
where fifteen hundred ships and steamers, with their 
thirty thousand men, are seen loading and unloading, 
weighing, branding, inspecting, rolling and boding the 
drays, nmles, negroes and Irish, all mixed and remixed, 
packed and repacked, and unpackt;d and compounded 
with the infinite variety of produce — ^you would bo 
ready to say, that this is the world's mart. And so it 
is the great depot of this great, broad, fertile valley of 
the mighty Mississippi. 

The city is situated on the west bank of the river, 
about ninety miles from its entrance into the Gulf of 
Mexico. The city of Lafayette has a distinct city 
chart3r, yet the increase of New Orleans has been so 
rapid, for a few years past, that it has grown up, so 
that by building they are united, and now appear like 
one vast city, occuj)ying about seven miles in length, 
and about one in brjadth, along the bank of the river, 
which, at this point, takes a wide circle, and passes to 
the north-east. The two cities occupy the bend of tho 



292 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

river, in form like a new moon, and hence has been 
given it the name of " Crescent Citv." 

The valley above and below is very level and low, 
and were it not for the levee, as it is called, would be 
inundated by the overflowing of the river, for nearly 
half of the year. The levee is an embankment of 
earth, thrown up jfrom six to eight feet high, and of 
sufficient breadth to make an excellent road. This 
embankment commences about forty miles below the 
city, and on the east side of the river extends as far 
up as Baton Eouge, a distance of one hundred and 
forty miles. Were it not for this embankment, not a 
rod of this vast extent of country could be cultivated. 
Yet it is now one of the most fertile and productive 
portions of the south, and on which is grown almost 
the entire crop of sugar in Louisiana, as well as large 
quantities of cotton. The city stands on a level, 
marshy piece of ground, from two to four feet below 
the level of the river at high water mark, which is 
prevented from overflowing by the levee above men- 
tioned. A traveler is struck, on entering the city, 
with the old and narrow streets, the high houses, orna- 
mented with tasteful corfiices, iron balconies, and many 
other circumstances peculiar to towns in France and 
Spain, and pointing out the past history of tliis city, 
fated to change its masters so often. The newer parts 
of the city are, however, built more on the American 
style, the streets being wide and regularly laid out. 
Many of the dwellings are built in a style of magnifi- 
cence and beauty, that will rival those of any city, 
while the beautiful grounds attached to them, filled 



SLAVERY UNMASKETD. 293 

witli tbe luxuriant foliage of the south, give to them 
an air of comfort and case which are seldom enjoyed 
in a city. There are in the city some six public squares, 
laid out with taste, enclosed with handsome fencing, 
and adorned with a variety of trees and shrubbery. 
These afford a pleasant retreat from the heat and 
glare of the streets, and tend also to improve the health 
of the place. The old j)ortion is built in the form of a 
parallelogram. The city consists of this part, the sub- 
urbs of St. Mary's, Annunciation, and La Course, called 
Fauxbourgs, to which may be added also, the city of 
Lafayette, above, and Trenic and St. John's, in the 
rear. The whole city is divided into districts, of which 
there are three, called Municipalities. These Municipal- 
ities, including the Fauxbourgs and Lafayette, extend 
along the bank of the river seven miles, and backward 
to the distance of one mile, as above remarked. New 
Orleans has probably twice as much boat navigation 
above it, as any other city on the globe. By means 
of the basin, the canal, and the bayou St. John, it 
communicates with Lake Ponchartrain, with the Flor- 
ida shore, with Mobile, Pensacola, and the whole Gulf 
shore. It also communicates, by means of the bayous 
Placquemine and La Fouche, with the Attakapas 
country, and has many other communications by means 
of the numerous bayous and lakes, with the lower 
parts of Lousiana. 

A word or two about the amount of its commerce. 
In 1841-2, the property imported into New Orleans was 
estimated at $35,764,477. In December, 1843, there 
were six hundred ships in port here atone time, taking 



294 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

freight from all parts of the world. The exports 
for that year are estimated at $50,000,000. In 1845, 
the value of imports from the interior of the United 
States alone, was estimated at $57,199,122 ; 1846, 
$77,193,264; 1847, $90,033,256. From these data 
some idea may be formed of the business transactions 
of the mart. 

The public buildings of the city are constructed, 
many of them, in a large and beautiful style. The 
new custom-house, on the corner of Canal street and 
the levee, is the largest and finest building of the kind 
in the United States. 

HISTORY OF THE COMMENCEMENT OF NEW ORLEANS. 

A portrait of this singular, mysterious city, is a 
living, blazing picture of the world. It is indeed a 
world in miniature, in which nearly all the grades of 
civilization, from barbarian Cythera, in days of yore, 
to modern Paris, are represented. It is here we find 
the great mass of human beings moved upon by 
impulses as strange and incomprehensible as the future 
of their own destiny. Now, reader, with your con- 
sent, I shall attempt to draw a perfect and faithful 
portrait of the living, breathing mass, that fill up the 
great emporium of the valley of the Mississippi. To 
say that all live^ in the common acceptation of that 
term, who spend their time here, would be to give a 
false coloring to a large portion of the picture, Avhich 
you may rely upon as being true to the very letter. 
It is important, however, for you, reader, to know 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 296 

something of the early history of this section of the 
country, as well as general description of the city 
and so:nc things connected with it, to be able duly to 
ajTprcciate and understand why a life in New Orleans 
difiers so widely from any other in the whole range of 
civilization. While standing on the levee, looking 
over this great busy mart, where the products and 
treasures of that vast region of the ^^ississi])J»i valley 
and its tributaries, are constantly being poured out, it 
would seem tliat a word could not be said of New 
Orleans, without requiring a full history of its dis- 
covery, beginning of settlement, adventures of indi- 
viduals in other portions of the valley, along the banks 
of this great artery of the breathing earth, which is 
constantly pouring its ffoods into the bosom of the 
ocean. As a brief sketch is demanded of the early 
times of this range of country I shall notice only a 
few of the most prominent of them. 

Among the most singular facts in the history of dis- 
coveries, is that this mighty flood of many waters was 
first met with more than a thousand miles from its 
mouth. The first discoverer was a Spaniard, the 
ftimous De Soto. He started from the Island of Cuba, 
in the year 1538, wUh six hundred men, lauded on the 
coast of Florida, passed to the north, through Georgia, 
Tennessee and Kentucky, and came to the river at the 
place now known as Chickasaw Bluffs. In passing 
from 1538 down to 1717, many adventurers from the 
old countries, as well as from the colonies, came, and 
scarcel}'" more than roused the panther and alligator 
from their lairs, and passed on, leaving them quietly 



296 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

to return to their repose, and tliere to remain until 
another should come after them, in search of the "foun- 
tain of immortal youth," which was the object sought 
after by those who first traversed this region of our 
country, and whom the Indians had now made to 
believe there existed such a fountain, in which, if a 
man were to bathe, he would, even if old, return back 
to juvenile years, his life be without end, and clad in 
immortal youth. But this glorious ideal fountain was 
never found ; yet on they came, and came, year after 
year, company after company, crowd after crowd, most 
of whom found a long, long resting place, unburied, 
in the midst of the swamps and desolations of a wild 
and unbroken wilderness. The result of these several 
companies, in search of the fountain of "living waters," 
was a settlement under the patronage of the French 
Government, after the purchase of Spain — one at 
Natchez, one at Balize, and one on Lake Ponchartrain, 
and finally, in the year 1718, at the city of New 
Orleans, this Babel of all Babels, this Sodom of all 
Sodoms, was commenced,' And here, allow me to 
request you, reader, to pause a moment, and contem- 
plate the horrible, unchronicled midnight deeds, which 
have been enacted in this modern Golgotha — to turn 
back to the pages of its dark and bloody history, 
although never written, yet, to read it, let the imagina- 
tion have its full and utmost range — excite it as wild, 
as livid, as the lightning flash amid the lowering thun- 
der cloud — then call up the ftillest measure of hiiman 
woe, of moral degradation, of human suffering, of 
wrecked hopes — contemplate the blackest, foulest rage 



SLAVERY UNMASKED, 297 

of human passion, aiul all the dark iiiid damning deeds 
that the imps of the lower world could perpetrate, and 
you woiild have before you a faint moonlight picture 
of the early days of this ancient and modern scat of 
Satan and his fallen angels. Although a change some- 
what for the better has, in latter years, come over the 
drama of her life, yet not in the spirit of her dreams : 
for the same brewing, boiling, overflowing cauldron of 
human passion is still here, swallowing up its victims 
by thousands, and tens of thousands, soul and body 
both, as in olden times, leaving scarcely a shred or a 
remnant, to tell from whence they came, or whither 
they have gone. 

This was New Orleans a century ago, and this is 
New Orleans to day. And notwithstanding, as above 
remarked, a change is in her outward forms, by throw- 
ing aside the bowie-knife — measurably so, at least — 
the dirk and pistol, yet the weapons by which des- 
truction is now accomplished, are none the less sure, 
none the less fjital. For unlike the knife and the 
pistol, they never maim, but strike strong, murderous 
and deep, inflicting death not only on the body, but 
also the soul, spirit and being of the hopeless victim. 

Opposite New Orleans, and connected with it by 
ferry, is the town of Algiers, which is the principal 
workshop of the city. Here are several extensive ship- 
yards, and numerous artizans, engaged in building and 
repairing vessels. A short distance aboye it is the 
United States Marine Hospital, a splendid and impo- 
sing building, used for the purpose its name designates, 
the taking care of, in sickness, and pillowing in 
18* 



298 SLAVERY UXMASKED. 

death, the weary, djang head of the sons of the ocean, 
at the expense of the United States Government. 
Notwithstanding the reputed unhealthiness of this 
city, which at certain seasons of the year is most fear- 
ful, most awful indeed, sweeping regiments in a few 
days, whole platoons at once, of men, women and 
children into their graves — go into the various ceme- 
teries, of which there are several, surrounding this 
vast charnel house of slaughtered bodies and souls of 
men — go especially into the French cemetery, and 
into the Cypress Grove cemetery, where the foreigners 
are committed to their last sleep, and look at the newly 
made graves. Alas! it looks as though a Waterloo 
or a Marathon had been recently acted over again, 
and their slain entombed beneath these sods. There 
has been a foe here — the scourge of Ood — scarcely 
less terrible in its ravages to the citizens of this place 
than the angel of death to the Egyptians in times of 
yore. I allude to the terrible, devastating, incompre- 
hensible yellow fever — the plague and scourge of this 
valley, of its most important localities, especially so of 
this city. Notwithstanding, as I was about to remark, 
this fearful mortality, the unprecedented ratio of de- 
population in a single city by death, or rather, such 
numbers as die annually in New Orleans, it has never, 
theless increased in population very rapidly. It was 
incorporated in 1804, as a city, and in 1810 had a 
population of 17,176 ; in 1820, 27,242 ; in 1830, 46,- 
320 ; in 1840, 100,193 ; in 1850, 120,000 ; and now it is 
thought to amount to 200,000. It is further computed 
that40,000 strangers are here during the winter months. 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 299 

CAUSES AND SOUUCES OF DISEASES HERE, 

New Orleans, as previously remarkcfl, is almost sur- 
rounded by swamps, was onee itself a swamp. In 
connection with the swamp, is being tlirown oft' un- 
ceasingly, from the whole surface b<^th in and around 
the city, one dense sheet of thick, death-dealing mala- 
ria. And to thicken this up and add to its qualities, 
the whole place, from one extreme to the other, is filled 
with the most filthy masses of stench and corruption 
that were ever suffered to remain above ground in a 
community claiming to be decent or civilized. In 
proof of this, I ask any man to go to that part of the 
city where he would certainly expect to find neatness 
and order, and look for some place to locate to escape 
the steam and odor from piles of filth, and he will find 
on one side or the other of almost every dwelling a 
horse stable, a mule yard, a negro pen, ,or piles of 
offals, from some lane or alley, which have been there 
long enough to become old relics of the city. Again, 
you may look in vain for a desirable dwelling, but 
none can be found unless on one side or the other a 
miserable shanty or hovel is located, filled up to the 
brim with the most degraded human beings, either 
blach or white. 

In connection with all this, and a great deal more 
of the same kind that time will not allow me to detail, 
every mouthful of food a person gets on. the table is 
a mass of poison, disease and death. I refer now 
more particularly to meats of every description. The 
animals of all kinds, to supply the city markets, are 



300 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

brought down from tlie upper states, bordering on the 
Ohio and Mississippi, in steamboats, and are, generally, 
from ten to fifteen days on the passage. They are 
forced, as a matter of course, into a change of food, 
water, and other circumstances, during the passage. 
They eat but very little, and when they arrive in the 
city are in a state of starvation, and in this condition 
are killed and taken into the markets. Now this meat 
is as improper for the table almost as though the ani- 
mal had died of ship fever, or something else as bad ; 
for the whole body is in a state of feverish inflamma- 
tion, produced by the change of diet and the starving 
condition in which the animal is when killed. Con- 
sequently the meat must produce a deleterious influ- 
ence upon the health of those who eat it. 

To present truly and clearly, the condition that 
meats are in when taken into the markets, the follow- 
ing facts I give from my own personal observation. 
The steamer on which I came down the river, the 
Hungarian, took on live stock and fowls after leaving 
Louisville, Ky., as part of her loading. Her upper 
decks were completely covered over with coops full of 
chickens, turkeys and geese, as thick almost as could 
be crowded in, amounting to several hundreds if not 
thousands. The .passage was long and tedious. For 
two days after being taken on board, the poultry began 
to sicken and die. The number dying daily increased, 
and for two or three days before we arrived in the 
city, a large number died. On arriving, those living I 
saw immediately sold, and the next day many of them 
were on the tables of the hotels and boarding houses. 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 301 

Now if these chickens were wholesome and proper 
food to be eaten, and would promote health and long 
life, then may wc look for hciilth in consuniiiig the 
pent up damps and vapors of the. dungeon or an emi- 
grant ship. It is also in almost a putrid condition 
that butter and {)reserved meats arc received, and they 
both have generally a rancid and forbidding taste and 
smell. Vegetables may bo classed with other things, 
for they arc usually produced by a forced growth, con- 
sequently, cannot become healthy and vigorous plants. 
The water here is also bad, nay, poisonous, although 
as clear and apparently as pure as the deep blue wa- 
ters of SEXECA LAKE up ill old York state, yet it is 
verily diseased and jioisonous. To dig a well and 
procure water in New Orleans, is a very easy matter ; 
for you would have it more than two-thirds of the 
time up even with the surface of the ground, and 
never, in the dryest time, more than a foot below. 
To drink freely of this water, no person would proba- 
bly live but a short time. 

To furnish a supply of water for dwellings, every 
house has a cistern from ten to fifteen feet high, stand- 
'in<T above <rround, for rain water. This water is used 
for drinking, cooking, and washing. Standing as this 
cistern does, exposed to the heat of the sun, the water 
becomes exceedingly warm, and always has a brackish, 
insipid taste. Another supply of water to those who 
prefer it, is from the river. It is taken through the 
main part of the city in pipes, and this is the most 
disgusting and loathesome beverage that a person ever 
put to his lips. To have some proper conception of 



302 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

this water for drinking, call to mind the filth from 
cities, towns, and villages, for an extent of two thous- 
and miles, together with the dregs that are constantly 
being poured off from ten thousand boats of every 
class, from the floating palace of the magnificent 
"J.wtoc?'a^," down to the shabby coal carriers of the 
Monongahela, which are constantly floating upon its 
surface. And then look at the dirty, turbid, gurgling 
mass as it rolls along, and constantly boiling up from 
the bottom ; dip up a tumbler full of it ; what thick, 
rich looking sediments remain, when drank off. 
Yes, those who live here along the range of the Mis- 
sissippi, do drink it, and say they "like it." But 
one thing is as certain as any cause aiid effect, and that 
is, that a more frightful source of disease does not ex- 
ist in the Mississippi Valley, than the use of the river 
water for drink. It liked to have killed me, the injur- 
ious effects of which I expect to carry with me to the 
grave. As evidence of this, is the change it produces 
with almost every person when he commences taking it. 
The effect is a very powerful alterative influence 
upon the system, terminating as thoroughly as the 
most drastic cathartic. This derangement, in a ma' 
jority of cases, follows with great obstinacy for weeks, 
and often months, bafiiing all remedies. The effect is 
great irritation of the mucus coat of the stomach and 
alimentary canal, resulting in extreme prostration of 
the physical powers, and a gradual derangement of 
the whole system, thus rendering it an easy prey to 
the various diseases peculiar to a hot southern climate. 
Now all these causes, and all the circumstances by 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 303 

which the iuliabitants of New Orleans are siirrouiided, 
together with the excessive dissipation, in every man- 
ner promoted by human passion, make this city, as it 
truly is, " one great cliarncl housed 

Although there arc periods when New Orleans is 
called " vcri/ healthy f yet that time is when the Yel- 
low ^^Jack,'' the Cholera, or " Danza,''^ is not sweeping 
the inhabitants off by scores every day. At all other 
times, while the mortality is three times as great as in 
any other city of its size, with corresponding sickness, 
yet you will then hear that it is " exceedingly healthy." 
But notwithstanding all these reports. New Orleans 
never can be healthy. As well might you promote 
good health while living upon the adder's breath, or 
while breathing the odor from the deadly Upas tree. 

Thousands upon thousands have come here for 
health and are now sleeping in the cemeteries of the 
city, who doubtless would this moment be alive and 
well had. they never seen New Orleans. And there are 
doubtless thousands here now of northern and eastern 
men, who will never return to their homes, but in the 
last great day will rise from this death-breeding swamp. 
Alas, what a motley mixture of human culprits will 
then come forth from these guilty regions, to re-people 
the world of woe I \Yhat secrets will then be unlock- 
ed that no eye but God has ever witnessed ! 

SLAVE AUCTION. 

Here is where I wish all northern pro-slavery men, 
doughlaces, and apologists for the dark institution 



304 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

were obliged to take tlieir stand and witness these 
scenes for one half day only ; in which case, you would 
have some hundreds of thousands filing off into the 
anti-slavery ranks in less than no time. 

The auction was held on St. Louis street, in the 
French part of the city. There were some two hun- 
hred men, women and children in all, ranged in front 
of the different auctioneers' stands to be sold. The 
crowd is collecting fixst. Operations to commence soon. 
Fresh lots of negroes are also pouring in, and various 
dealers are making unceremonious examinations of 
the different articles on exhibition. The immense 
hall — an elegant and most tastefully finished affair — 
was thronged with brokers, jobbers, flealers and specu- 
lators in human flesh — carelessly, nay, rudely look- 
ing on the sight sufficiently grave to make an angel 
weep and a devil blush, but it was invested with no 
sanctity, gravity, or even humanity to them. They 
saw nothing but dollars and cents in that crowd of re- 
deemed men. Alas for the inhumanity of our race ! 

" Man, proud man, 
Dressed in a little brief authority, 
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven. 
As makes the angels weep!" 

Some were smoking, some drinking, some swearing, 
some were reading their morning news, while others 
were talking politics, close-money times, and Anglo- 
Eussian wars. The auctioneers, these faithful success- 
ors of St. Judas, mount the rostrum, and swell out 
with importance, leaving no doubt in the mind, of any 
but they fully appreciate the dignified position they 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 305 

occupy ia the centre of this great metropolis of the 
world's SLAVE-MARKET. The \o\id hiugli, the merry 
jokes, the piercing repartee, the sunny smile, the cor- 
dial greeting of friends, the dignified auctioneers, the 
splendid hall, the display of fashion, and the living, 
blazing, gentility pervading the whole gay throng, 
contrasted most painfully with what soon followed. 
Smash, smash, go the auctioneer's hammers upon the 
solid marble — a signal for commencing the sales, — 
pleasing sounds to the gaping, speculating crowd of 
men-buyers, but they fall like the blows of destiny 
upon the ear of the poor slave. 

The first piece of property offered was a man of some 
fifty or more, a little under size, with one eye put out 
Having placed him in the proper position, one of these 
men of the block very shrewdly, and with no little 
amount of candor, informed the crowd that he was 
just the boy they wanted. Said he, " Gentlemen, here 
is a boy worth a thousand dollars to any of you for 
his good qualities ; though minus one eye, yet he is as 
smart as steel, and can see out of one eye as much as 
common niggers can out of two. How much for him? 
How much? Do I hear a thousand dollars? Nine 
hundred ? Eight hundred ? Seven hundred ?" He 
goes for seven hundred. Next comes a tall, blue-eyed 
midatto woman. He informs the crowd that this girl 
is named Eliza, and that she is aged eighteen, and per- 
fectly free from the diseases and vices designated by 
law ; and proceeds, alternately in French and p]nglish 
to elicit bids on her. " How much, how much do I 
hear for this splendid piece of property ? Good nurse 



806 SLAVERY UNMASKED, 

good seamstress, and good something else, onlj 

look, gentlemen, what a rich development," at the 
same time placing his hand upon her round, full, bare 
bosom ! " Do I hear a thousand dollars ? Eleven 
hundred ? Twelve hundred ? Thirteen hundred ? 
Fourteen hundred ? Gone at fourteen hundred dol- 
lars." A man, his wife, and two children came next 
on the stand. " Novr, gentlemen," sang out one of 
the auctioneers, " we offer you a fine, likely stock 
here, an entire family. We offer you the whole lump 
at once. We don't want to separate them. Our friends 
of the Abolition school up north, say it is wicked to 
separate families on the block, and you know it is, 
gentlemen," he added ironically. " How much for 
tbe family ? IIow much do I hear ? Do I hear noth- 
ing? Why, gentlemen, the man is a good blacksmith, 
and can save a little fortune for you every year." A 
thousand is bid for the man alone ; twelve hundred, 
fourteen hundred, filteeu hundred ; gone at fifteen 
hundred, to Mr. P., of this city. His wife and the 
youngest child, a little girl, went for fourteen hundred 
and fifty dollars to a man from Texas, and the oldest, 
a lad of some twelve years, for eight hundred dollars 
to a sugar grower of the upper part of this State. But 
the scene of their separation ! how shall I describe it ? 
I cannot — indeed I have no heart to, were I to make 
the attempt. 

As I have more than once, on former occasions, in 
this book, informed you, so I here reiterate the fact, 
that these southern slave auctions are the most trying, 
most outrageous, most abominable, most heart-rending. 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 307 

and most anti-human scenes that a civilized man can 
look upon. SufTice it to say, that tears, groans, sighs, 
wailings, prayers, and sometimes death-agonies arc all 
mixed up with tlic smash of the hammer, and the loud 
yelling of dollars and cents from these agents of old 
Lucifer the first. 

A young mulatto, or quadroon woman, is now 
brouglit on the stand. She is one of the most beauti- 
ful, I think, I ever saw, agod from sixteen to twenty. 
Though thinly and cheaply dressed, none could be in- 
sensible to her beauty. She was much whiter than 
many, nay, than most of the Anglo-Saxon ladies, of 
medium size, well developed, beautiful black hair, 
black and sparkling eyes that pierced wherever they 
darted. " IIow much for this fancy article," cried out 
three auctioneers at once in English, French and Span- 
ish at the same time. " IIow much for this charming 
creature? How much ? Why, gentlemen," said one 
of them in English " she is fair enough to become the 
sweetheart of a governor ;" then rudely drawing the 
covering from her neck and shoulders, he exhibited a 
bust as plump and purely white as the snow-tinged 
image of Venus. "There, gentlemen," said this more 
than devil, " look at that ; now is your time ; such a 
rare chance will soon be lost. How much? Twelve 
hundred is bid, fourteen hundred, fifteen, sixteen, eight- 
een hundred, two thousand, going, going, gone at two 
thousand dollars" to an old sea captain. 

Next on the stand is a mother and a daughter aged 
forty and seventeen. The mother a rather darkish 
mulatto woman, and the daughter nearly white, hav- 



308 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

ing a white father without any doubt. These also 
were tried to be sold together, but the oflPer failed. 
The mother was sold for seven hundred dollars, for a 
nurse to a minister of a Protestant church, who resides 
in this city ; the daughter to a cotton grower up on 
Ked Eiver, for twelve hundred dollars. Said the poor 
girl to the Eev. gentleman who bought her mother, 
with eyes swimming in tears, and with loud, dolorous, 
heart-rending cries, such onlj^ as despair can give utter- 
ance to, — said she, "pray, massa, please do, massa, 
buy me too." The man was evidently touched by 
her cries and tears, but replied, " I can't buy you, I 
am not able to keep you both ;" so they took a last 
and final embrace of each other, and parted, never 
more to meet in this life, both weeping aloud. The 
minister took his piece of property and started away 
with it, and the planter likewise did the same. Think 
of that cruel, cruel separation, oh ye Northern mothers 
and daughters, if you are ever tempted to apologize 
in the least, for this bloody, iniquitous institution ! 

Now comes a large, stocky -looking man on the 
block, black as coal, hair perfectly woolly, eyes black, 
with a rich display of pearly white teeth. He stands 
erect, somewhat dignified, quite sober, and with an air 
of independence in his bearing not common to candi- 
dates for the block. His age, name and profession 
was thus announced from the slave stand. " This 
boy," said the auctioneer, " is only thirty years old, 
his name is Judas, and he is a preacher ; yes, gentle- 
men, he is a famous preacher, I am told, and no way 
connected to Judas of old who sold his master, (as the 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 30® 

good old book informs us,) but of the true blue, who 
will do Ills master good, both soul and body. Why, 
gentlemen, you see lie will jnake a famous fii-Ul hand 
during the week, and a roaring chaplain on the Sab- 
bath. IIow much for the minister? How nmch do I 
hear for him ?" Ilere a man from the crowd stepped 
up and began to examine him, felt rudely of his legs, 
ai'ms and joints, as we do north sometimes of horses. 
It looked degrading, you may rightly judge, to my 
northern eyes, — opened his mouth to see if all waa 
right there. The poor fellow, though slave he was, 
and always had been, felt the indignity, but bore it 
with silent patience. Eight hundred was bid on him, 
a thousand, twelve hundred. He finally went at fif- 
teen hundred dollars to an old planter somewhere up 
the country. He is a hard looking old customer, and 
thus remarked to the by-standers : " He is a good, 
strong-looking boy. He will make a good hand for 
the cotton fields, and I have no objections to his i)iety, 
if he has enough to make him honest ; but if he under- 
takes to play parson on my plantation, he '11 soon re- 
pent it." 

The last sale I shall mention out of over fifty which 
were made since the sales commenced, consisted of the 
following group, viz : — three young men, a lad, a mid- 
dle aged cook, and an old man. The young men were 
all sold in a lump for three thousand dollars to a lied 
River planter, (God pity them.) The lad and the old 
cook were lumped off for fourteen hundred dollars. 

The old man is now left alone on the block for a few 
minutes. Poor old man! The frosts of at least 



810 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

seventy winters must have been shed npon his locks. 
Age, decrepitude, and sorrow, were visible upon his 
person. Alas, for the poor slave ! As I looked upon 
him a sensation of sickness, of heart-sickness, I felt in- 
voluntarily creeping over me, and the unbidden tear 
to moisten my eye in spite of all my philosophy. Here 
is a man, said I to myself, that has all his life time 
served his master and his master's children doubtless, 
through one or two generations, and must now, in his 
old age, be torn away from wife, children, friends, 
home, and all the hallowed associations of his better 
days, and sold on the block to strangers. " Come, 
straighten up here, old dad," said the rough man of 
the hammer, "straighten up, and show yourself — there, 
gentlemen," continued he, " I offer you a valuable 
relic of antiquity, — how much do I hear for it? How 
much for this fine old boy ? Ninety dollars is bid, 
only ninety dollars I am offered, why, gentlemen, he 
will be worth two hundred dollars a year to feed 
chickens. A hundred is bid, going, going, gone for 
one hundred dollars." Here the scene closed, with 
me at least, for I turned upon my heel and left the 
spot with a heavy heart and sad reflections, the poor 
old man's grey locks and sorrowful countenance, part- 
ing families, weeping mothers and daughters, &c., &c., 
haunting my imagination, and arousing my indigna- 
tion to almost an unbearable point. 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 311 

LOUISIANA PLANTATION IIAUIIARITIES. 

The wliipping of woiiumi oh Louisiana plantations, 
differs somovvliat in manner from sonu; plantations in 
other portions of the shivc states. 'JMie manner here 
is the following : 

Their frock is turned up over their hea<l, and they 
are made to lie down with their face to the ground, 
their arms extended and tied to a stake. Tlie j)addle 
is then used ; it is a board prepared in shape like a 
shovel. The wido part is broad and full oftloles; 
with this implement of torture they are unmercifully 
beaten on the bear flesh, from twenty to a lumdred 
blows. A northern gentleman of this city, once cm- 
ployed on a plantation, told me that he actually saw, 
when thus employed, slave women pretty far along in 
a family way, thus placed on the ground, a hole being 
dug, or rather the sand scooped o*it of tlie earth suffi- 
ciently large so as not to destroy the unborn offspring, 
then she placed her face down, the whole body lying 
flat on the ground, where it was scooped out, in which 
position this paddle was applied to her bare body. 
After these blows are repeated a few times, the skin 
tears away, and the blood and fl^sh is forced through 
the holes with gri\at force, flying sometimes several 
feet from them; and yet this is very modest and mod- 
erate correction for these localities. 

Females are required to do as mucli work on a 
Louisisna plantation as men, and there is generally 
about one woman to three man; this is about the pro- 
portion. The treatment of slave women is so severe, 



312 SLAVERY UNMASKED. . ^ 

and their labor so hard, that very few children are 
raised on the sugar-cotton plantations; and if they are 
alive at berth, they grow up feeble and puny, and from 
neglect and the want of proper cleanliness and care, 
very few become men and women. The relations and 
intimacy among the slaves on the plantations are man- 
aged with great care, and everything that is allowed 
to exist between the men and women, is permitted 
with a view to degrade and brutalize them, and des- 
troy a^l moral sense, as well as self-respect. 

A rule or regulation of an}- kind calculated to 
elevate the thoughts ' above the brute, or a disposition 
on the part of the slave to cultivate the moral sense, 
would in most cases be crushed at ftnce, and an at- 
tempt on the part of the slave to do so, would meet 
with the most severe and cruel punishment. (I am 
not now speaking of city slaves.) Hence, kindred 
ties and parental affection, and the attachment between 
man and wife, are among the first things to be broken 
up, as the permission of such demonstrations would 
have a tendency to humanize the slave, and make him, 
under such circumstances, somewhat an object of 
svmpatliy. A connection among them " as man and 
wife," in which the planter not unfrequently officiates 
in a mock ceremony of marriage,*is allowed under 
certain rules, yet care is taken that such alliances do 
not continue for a long time. When they are broken 
up, they are allowed to seek other companions for a 
short time. Thus they succeed in preventing anything 
like an affection or attachment, or even respect for an 
alliance in the character of " man and wife." 



SLAVEUY UNMASKED. oio 

A poor slave on a plantation a little west of tliis 
city by the name of Mat, was to be thus married to 
Kate, on an adjoining plantation ; but on a second 
sober thought, Mat backed off from the course. His 
lady-love waited on him the next niglit after, and the 
matter was thoroughly discussed between them. She, 
poor thing, reproached him for his inconstancy with 
tears and sighs at a great rate. Ikit ^[at, like a })hilo- 
sopher, finally said to her by way of comfort — "Kate, 
what is de sen.se ob niggers marrj-ing — it don't mean 
anyting ? When white folks marry, dey say matches 
made in heben — when niggers marry, children all 
slaves — nigger don't own he wife — nigger woman don't 
own her husband — more misery, misery, all come ob 
de nigger marrying." 

Alas! how true. What good philosophy; how 
often we laugh, when we ought to be ashamed that 
our sensibilities are not more deeply shocked. 

They also have on these plantations, what among 
the dignitaries of the lash, tliey term the hreak-down 
whippings. This is usually done by placing the })Oor 
slave with his face to a post, in which is framed a cross- 
bar. An iron collar or ring is put around his neck 
and fastened to the post. The arms are extended each 
way, and fastened to the cross-bar by rings around the 
wrist. They are then stripped bare, and thus are 
whipped from twenty to a hundred lashes and up- 
wards, and sometimes as long as a man can continue 
to use the whip wnthout/ being exhausted, and they 
often die under the lash. 

K a slave is brought down from Kentucky or Vir- 
14 



814 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

ginia, wliicli is often the case, and sold to a planter at 
the far south, as it is called here, and it is generally un- 
derstood that if he has any pride, or occasionally as- 
sunaes a degree of independence unbecoming a slave, or 
shows the least reluctance against being driven beyond 
what is consistent and human, he is, as the drivers 
say, "getting too smart," and must have a small touch 
of the " Mississippi break down ;" and without any 
further ceremony he is put on to the post and whip- 
ped, until the driver thinks he " will not be quite so 
smart." And in many cases it is deemed necessary to 
repeat this " breakdown" operation a number of times 
before the " smartness " will all pass out of them. The 
driver's duty on a plantation, is to see that the hands 
are all at work ; and to do this he usually follows them 
into the field and exercises a general supervision 
over their labor. His equipments are a heavy knife, 
a revolver pistol, and a large whip, the lash of which 
is about seven feet long. While in the field, if the 
negro does not work rapidly, or, if he or she violates 
the rules of the plantation, this lash comes down upon 
him (perhaps an aged man or young woman) with -a 
force and power that cuts through his clothes, and 
tears his skin and flesh into shreds. The blows will 
often be repeated as above remarked, by a peculiar 
swing of the lash from right to left, every one of 
which will cut a hole where it hits like a scoop with a 
gouge. Said a captain of one of the smaller class freight 
steamers, who used to take on freight from some of 
the plantations, "A negro was tied up and flogged 
until the blood ran down and filled his shoes, so that 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 315 

when lie raised his feet and set tlicm down again, lh(.' 
blood would run over their tops. I could not look on 
any longer, but turned away in horror; the whipping 
was continued to the number of five hundred lashes, 
as I understood ; a quart of spirits of turpentine was 
then a])plied to his lacerated body. The same negro 
came down to my boat," continued the captain, "to get 
some apples, and was so weak fnjm his wounds and 
the loss of blood, that he could not get U]) the bank 
but fell to the ground. The crime for which the ne- 
gro was whipped, was that of telling the other negroes 
that the overseer had lain ivith his wife.'''' 

Think of that, you northern men who arc accus- 
tomed to apologize for so barbarous, so heatluMi an in- 
stitution : make the ease your own, how would you 
endure such treatment for reporting so humiliating a 
fact as a man sleeping with your wife, &e. 

The change from Kentucky and Virginia slavery to a 
large cotton or sugar plantation in the more southern 
states, is as great almost as liberty and slavery, and 
there are niany slaves taken from these states and sold 
far south, that can never be subdued only by death ; 
and this they are sure to meet, unless they give up 
their "smartness." And in them is only seen exhibited 
the motto of eveiy American citizen, " liberty or 
DEATH." They will never yield, for they have the 
feeling and soul of an American, and the pride and 
spirit of their own fatli(n\s, who arc among the most 
distinguished men of their native state. And this is 
American slavery — one of our " cherished national 
institutions I !" and the forbidding of its further ex- 



316 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

tension is now creating civil war, threatening tlie re- 
sistance of the Union, and the deluging of these 
Columbian plains with blood! 



BARRACOONS OF SLAVE WOMEN. 

Slave -brokers' offices, or whole barracoons of beau- 
tiful slave-women are here kept in any quantity, to let 
to gentlemen for sleeping companions. To these girls 
is sometimes granted the privilege, when they arrive 
at the age of puberty, from twelve to fourteen, if not 
previously engaged by the master, to look for a man 
such as she may fancy, and engage herself to be his 
bed companion. And in this relation she remains 
with him for a specified sum per month, which he pays 
her master, the broker. 

The amount paid these girls is regulated by the 
taste, appearance and charms she presents. If one is 
genteel and beautiful, and combine all the perfections 
in form and features that can be presented in a female, 
she will command a price accordingly. And thus in 
proportion as their qualities and charms are regarded, 
will they be considered valuable, and their price in 
market in that proportion. They also have their 
points of ambition, and pride of situation, and assume 
an air of aristocracy according to the rank and situa- 
tion of the man witli whom they live, as much as any 
other class in society. To be the paramour and bed 
companion of some man of great wealth, or lawyer, 
or professional man, or some popular and distinguished 
gentleman, gives them a condition and standing that is 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 817 

enviable indeed to those of the same class, who are 
living with men of less means and lower standing in 
society. And this makes a circle of the " upper 
tendora," as clearly marked as among the white aris- 
tocracy. These girls are usually educated and instruc- 
ted by their masters of the hyena stamp, in a certain 
way, for the express purpose of producing all tlie 
attractions and charms that can be i)rcsented in a 
female whose value is much increased by a greater 
combination of all that is beautiful and lovely in 
woman. Very frequently these girls are engaged while 
children, for bed companions, as soon as they shall 
arrive at the age of puberty, by some wealthy man ; 
and not unfrequently will some disgusting, drunken 
old bloat meet with a beautiful quadroon child, and 
engage her of her master for a bed companion, as soon 
as she becomes of proper age, and the price which he 
agrees to pay is of no consideration with him. Her 
loveliness even in the purity and simplicity of inno- 
cent childhood, have so aroused the impulses of his 
beastly nature, that have her he will at any price. 
This outrage is too horrid for contemplation. Here 
these poor beings are forced into a situation where 
they pass their days in the greatest misery and grief 
that can be imagined. Girls of this class also are 
often purchased by men expressly for bed companions; 
not only when they are children, but when they are 
of mature age. The price paid for a smart, healthy, 
quadroon girl, from the age of twelve to eighteen, 
ranges from one thousand to three thousand dollars, 
according as the purchaser may fancy them, and as 



318 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

tliey are regarded to present the beauty and charms of 
a quadroon. Connections of this kind, not only 
between those who purchase them, but those who hire 
them, often continue for years, and frequently become 
such, that an attachment, and even an affection grows 
up, as strong and as enduring as was ever witnessed 
between man and wife. And many instances of these 
connections have been known, where a man, after 
living with a girl, for a number of j'cars, will turn her 
off for the purpose of being married ; and yet after he 
is married and his family around him, his attachment 
still continues to the being in whom he has so long 
confided, and whose heart he knows to be as warm 
and as devoted to him as is her love of life. In view 
of these facts, he drags out a miserable and discon- 
solate existence, and the discarded, broken-hearted 
quadroon, on whose brow is a tinge of yellow shade that 
will forever doom her to disgrace, sinks away into a lone 
and premature grave, a poor, forgotten, wretched slave; 
never more to be remembered only by him whose 
heart has melted into hers, in the true spirit of unend- 
ing affection. Not only such scenes as these are fre- 
quently witnessed, but instances often occur, where a 
man who has discarded one of these girls and has been 
married, is forced to purchase her for the purpose of 
selling her again, and binding the one who buys her, 
to take her away from the city, so that he may never 
meet her more. He is obliged to do this, in conse- 
quence of her affection for him, and also his for her. 
When these girls, while being kept as mistresses, 
have children, which is often the case, they are usually 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 319 

sent back to their master, wlio citlier liiros tlieni 
hoarded with some nc^'ro-womaii, or " turns them into 
tlie yard" with his other skives, until the child is old 
enough to be left from its mother. Thus the father of 
this child — the lawyer^ the gentlnnan, or the merchaiU, 
or whatever he may b? — has the pleasure as well as 
the gratif//inr/ re/fedion that his kindred will not become 
extinct, and that his bluod will continue to course in 
the veins of another human l)eing through the next 
generation; and also he can remember with the pride 
of a father, that when the mother of his child has lost 
her charms, there is another beautiful qnadroon girl 
nay a white girl, to take her place who has been cast 
oif as a worthless, useless thing. And this is almost 
without exception, the course that is forced upon them 
by a long established custom. When they are of no 
account in this way, they usually hire their time at a low 
rate, from three to five dollars per month, and resort 
to various means to su})port themselves. Some will 
keep houses of assignation, and others will rent a 
house, with rooms furnished, of which there are 
hundreds if not thousands in New Orleans, and rent 
them to men who keep a bed companion, and board 
them, while others will rent a house, and hire negro 
girls, slaves of the lowest class, who will steal away 
from their pens, and come in and spend the night. 
They will also agree with "negro-traders" to send in 
a number of girls from their slave-pens. These are 
the lowest grades of brothels here, and there arc hun- 
dreds of them scattered through every street and lane 
in the city. And yet, strange as it may appear, with 



320 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

these women are a large number of men, boarding 
and lodging, wlio may be seen in the morning, creep- 
ing through some back lane or alley. Follow these 
same men, and you will meet them in the saloon of 
the " St. Charles ;" and in all the rounds of dissipation 
and pleasure, they appear as well dressed and as intel- 
ligent and accomplished in their manners and conver- 
sation, as any person you meet in the cit3^ Many and 
doubtless most of these persons are here from neces- 
sity, in not being able to meet expenses that would 
accrue in any other boarding jDlace, and also, large 
portions of these men who are found in these dens, are 
those who came from the north to "seek their fortunes," 
but failing utterly in their golden prospects, and not 
obtaining honorable employment, have joined in with 
some miserable catch-penny concern, in the wa}^ of 
" Peter Funk," or gambling on a small scale, and bor- 
rowing of some acquaintance on account of respec- 
table connections, succeed in obtaining a small pittance 
to pay for board and accommodations at a negro 
brothel. Another reason by which men of no prin- 
ciple adopt this mode " of life in the south," is, that 
it is regarded much cheaper than to board at the hotels 
or first class boarding houses. 

As no young man ordinarily dare think of marriage 
until he has made a fortune to support the extravagant 
style of house-keeping, and gratify the expensive 
taste of young women, as fashion is now educating 
them, many are obliged to make up their minds never 
to marry. One of this class undertook to show us, 
not long since, that it was much cheaper for him to 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 321 

have a quadroon as above doscribod, tlian to live in 
any other way that he could be expoeted to in New 
Orleans. He hired, at a moderate rent, two apart- 
ments in a certain part of the town ; his woman did 
not, except occasionally, require a servant ; she did 
the marketing, and peri'oniied all the ordinary duties 
of house-keeping herself; she took care of his clotlics, 
and in every way was economical and saving in her 
habits — it being her interest, if her aflection for him 
was not sufficient, to make him as much comfort and 
as little expense as possible, that he might become the 
more strongly attached to her, and have the less 
occasion to leave her. He said that no one thought 
the less of him for it here, and added, " I know it is 
not right, but it is much better than the way in which 
most young men live who depend on salaries in New 
York." 

Parents, guardians, and friends of the north, think 
I beseech you, think of these social relations, of the 
authorities that uphold them, and never, never suffer 
your sons, brothers, or any young friend that you can 
prevent, to come to this abandoned city. 

JfYSTERIES OF NEW ORLEANS. 

I will now turn over another leaf in the mysterious 
history of southern life, and show up the Kew Orleans 
side of it, although not peculiar to New Orleans alone ; 
and would beg, at the same time, the kind reader not 
to allow an undue fastidious taste to prevent him from 
reading the following. 
14* 



322 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

What I am about to disclose, may not be entirely 
new to all northern people ; yet must be admitted by 
all who make any pretensions to civilization, to be the 
most extraordinary exhibition of degradation to which 
human nature can be reduced. I refer to southern 
amalgamation^ or the connections that are formed be- 
tween white men and colored women. Individuals 
may here be found, of the first respectability, who 
take for their bed companions not only the quadroons, 
— those who are only one-fourth black blood, • — but 
those of a darker hue, and frequently those of the 
blackest shade, and live with them as with a wife, and 
by whom they have large families. As an instance of 
this kind, I was credibly informed, that an ex-collector 
of the port of New Orleans, a man who was the recipi- 
ent of government favor, and receiving a salary of six 
thousand dollars per annum, has lived for years with 
a mulatto woman, by whom he has had six children ; 
and finally becoming displeased with her in the fall of 
1847, he discarded her, and since, has taken for his 
companion one of his own slaves, who is as black as 
charcoal. Another instance : one of the first legal 
gentlemen of this city, a man of transcendent powers 
of eloquence and ability, has had for his bed com- 
panion for four or five years a black woman, a slave 
that he hires, and pays her master a given sum per 
month. 

Another lawyer, I am informed, a native of New 
York, and brother of one of the most distinguished 
judges in the State, had for his bed companion a beau- 
tiful mulatto girl for seven years ; during which time 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 323 

he was paying liis addresses to a liigldy accomplished 
young hidy in the city, aud was subsequently married 
to her. His new white companion, as a matter of 
course, required him to discai-d his black one. After 
he was married, the poor discarded slave, who luid 
been his companion for years, and had watched and 
nursed him through long and dreary nights and days 
of sickness, and whose very soul was the living, glow- 
ing embodiment of woman's pure affection, became a 
raving maniac. She rushed, one day, in all the hor- 
rors of her madness, to the river, and attempted to 
drown hcreelf, but was prevented from consummating 
the act, and is thus left, another living monument of 
the deep and damning shame that should forever follow 
him who has thus outraged every moral inipulse of the 
human soul. And it will follow him, although not in 
pointing the finger of scorn at him as he walks the 
streets, for he has not violated any of the conventional 
rules of the moral sense of the community in which he 
lives ; but in his own conscience and heart will he 
find an image, that when he calls it up before him, 
will change the warm current of his bl«)od into a blush 
of remorse and shame upon his cheek. 

And there are hundreds of similar instances now 
existing here, men of the first respectability, having 
for their bed companions slave-women of every degree 
of color, from the darkest hue to the soft and mellow 
tinge of the beautiful quadroon. Stepping one day 
into a grocery store on one of the back streets, there 
came in a beautiful quadroon young woman, barehead- 
ed, gaudily dressed, loaded down with costly jewelry 



324 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

in her ears, and round her wrists and fingers. Said I 
to the shopkeeper, after she had retired, "Who is that 
lady?" "Why," replied he, "she is a slave girl, hired 
out to a French gentleman for a sleeping companion. 

Another exhibition in these alliances, is a man by 

the name of H . He is a man of great wealth, and 

is regarded a great gentleman and a great sportsman. 
He has had a mulatto woman for his bed companion 
for years, and has now living four children — one son 
and three daughters. A young man from the north, 

by the name of S , who was in the employ of Mr. 

H , married one of his daughters, a beautiful quad- 
roon girl, well educated and highly accomplished. 

Her father hired S to marry her, by giving him a 

large sum of money. 

Another connection of this kind, but a great deal 
more revolting than the last mentioned case, is a Mr. 

P , who bought a beautiful girl from Kentucky, 

for a bed companion. He lived with her some twenty 
years, by whom he had five children. In the fall of 
18 — , he made up his mind to remove to the West 
Indies. Before leaving, however, he had the inhu- 
manity to sell, for a few thousand dollars, his whole 
family — her who was virtuall}^ his wife, and five of 
his own children, his own blood and bone. I was in- 
formed that his family was the most interesting and 
lovely group of children ever witnessed, and in only 
one of them could be traced the least shade of African 
blood. This, though barbarously inhuman, and de- 
grading in the lowest degree, is by no means a rare 
case in these parts ; instances of a similar kind often 



SLAVERY r.NMASKKl). 325 

occur, and yet, men wlio do it arc regarded as 
hurnun^ and those who make Laws to legalize such acts 
are regarded as Christian in their tendencies and educa- 
tion at least, and those who suj>port them arc a proud 
and chivalrous people, and claim to be civilized! 

Alliances of this nature have been continued so long 
between slave-women and white men, that there are a 
great many slaves in whom cannot be traced the least 
shade, either in form, feature, action or speech of the 
Ethiopian ; and they are also of all complexions, from 
the light flaxen hair and bright blue eye, and the 
sandy and freckled countenance, and the keen, black, 
piercing eye, and clear, beautiful white skin, with rosy 
cheeks, making the very perfection of loveliness and 
beautv. Yet they are proscribed, cruelly proscribed, 
shamefully proscribed, — are forbidden by the rules of 
society to hold rank above the lowest, blackest slave, 
and the common civilities of the social circle arc never 
extended to them. In short, the life of a mulatto girl, 
or a quadroon, as they are called, is as strictly marked 
out, and the path which she is to take has been so long 
beaten, that she is as much confined to it as if it was a 
fixed law in the slave code. 

There is also quite a respectable number of free col- 
ored pcojile here, some of whom arc wealthy, but their 
monev can never raise them above their caste. ITere 
is wherein American slavery is worse than any other 
now existing, or that has ever existed in all the past 
history of the world. Neither wealth, virtue, talent, 
beauty, nor accomplishment, can elevate them above 
their caste. It is not because of their color, for they 



326 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

are white, and many of them whiter, more talented, 
better looking, and more accomplished than many of 
the southern white population. These free quadroons 
and white women, hundreds of them, are real ladies, 
well educated, and dress with a profusion and taste 
quite astonishing to a northerner. They can marry 
colored freemen according to law, but such an alliance 
would not raise them above their class. The mulatto 
man, besides, would not have power to protect such a 
wife, the same as a white man would his. In becom- 
ing the wife of the man of color, she would necessarily 
perpetuate her degradation ; but in prostituting herself 
to the white, she would elevate herself, that is, in a 
certain grade of southern society. 

Now almost all these young women of color are edu- 
cated in these prejudices, and from the tcnderest age 
their parents fashion them for corruption. There is a 
species of public balls where only white men and fe- 
males of color are admitted, which is known here as 
also in Charleston, S. C, as the fandango ball. They 
are very common and very numerous in the south. 
The husbands, flithers, and brothers of the latter are 
on no account received. The mothers sometimes are, 
and witness, with no small amount of pride, the 
homage addressed to their daughters by these amor- 
ous white lords. When any gentlemen present is 
smitten by one of these southern beauties, — for they 
are more prepossessing in appearance than southern 
white ladies, — he goes to the mother, or in case her 
mother is not present, to the girl herself, to bargain for 
her person for a season, or for a longer term. All this 



SLAVKllY UNMASKED. 327 

passes as a matter of course, without secrecy. ^J'liese 
monstrous unions, as previously remarked, have not 
even the reserve of vice, which conceals itself from 
shame, as virtue does from modesty. They exi)Ose 
themselves openly to all eyes, without any infliray 
or blame attaching to the men who thus demean 
themselves. 



REIGN OF TERROR — CIIAIX-OANGS OF SI.AVE-WUMEN. 

There occurred a circumstance here some time .'<ince, 
which would have drawn a blush upon, and outraged 
the bloody administration of the infamous Murat, Dan- 
ton and Robespierre. The circumstances, as near as I 
can relate them, arc as follows: — 

Said my informant, who by the way is a gentleman 
of the most undoubted veracity, on hearing of the ex- 
istence of an act of uncommon cruelty at the house of 

Madam La L , I went down with others to see. 

Upon entering one of the apartments, the most appal- 
ing spectacle met our eyes. Seven slaves, more or less 
horribly mutilated, were seen suspended by the neck, 
with their limbs apparently stretched and torn from 
one extremity to the other. They had been confined 
for several months in the situation from which they 
had thus providentially been rescued ; and had merely 
been kept in existence to prolong their sufferings, and 
to make them taste all that a most refined and terrible 
cruelty could inflict. A negro woman was found 
chained, covered with bruises and wounds, from severe 
and oft-repeated flogging. All the apartments were 



328 SLAVERY UNMASKED, 

then forced open. In a room on the ground floor, two 
more found chained, and in a dejolorable condition. 
Up stairs, and in the garret, four more were found 
chained ; some so weak as to be unable to walk, and 
all covered widi horrible wounds and sores. One 
mulatto man declared himself to have been chained 
five months, being fed daily with only one handful of 
meal, with water, and receiving every morning the 
most cruel treatment. The head of this poor fellow, 
continued my informant, was awfully cut, a large hole 
in one part of it I saw extending to a fearful depth — 
his body also, from head to foot, was covered with 
scars and filled with worms. One poor old man, over 
sixty years of age, was found chained, hand and foot, 
and made fast to the floor, in a hneeUng position. His 
head also bore the appearance of having been beaten 
until it was broken, and the worms were actuall}' to 
be seen making a feast of his brains. A Avoman had 
her back literally cooked, (if the expression may be 
allowed) with the lash ; the very bones might be seen 
projecting through the skin. Another colored woman 
was found in the smoke house, hung by the neck until 
life had become extinct, and in this condition she was 
found. She was first tied and whipped, then boiling 
water was poured over the abdomen and legs until the 
skin was literally scalded off, and the fatty tissue cook- 
ed, leaving the muscles bare ; she was then taken into 
the smoke house and locked up, and probabl}'- on the 
next day the remaining injuries were inflicted, which 
finally put an end to her misery. And what, dear 
reader, suppose you, were the crimes for which she 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 329 

paid so fatal a jwiialty ? Simply, because, being a 
poor slave, she had no power to resist the anioroiia ad- 
vances of her master, and for this her mistress had her 
tortured to death. 

A Mr. I ; an Irishman, who by trading and 

trafficking had raised himself from a street-hand or 
buss driver into a picayune trading establishment, 
finally became the owner of a slave-man Bob. The 
man Bob, not always giving entire satisfaction by his 
conduct, his master one day flew into a dreadful rage, 
shut up Bob in a close room, on a public street, and 
beat him to death. The loud cries of the poor victim 
attracted the attention of passers by, who stopped, 
peeped through an aperture and dashed on. The cir- 
cumstances as narrated to me, were more horribly 
revolting, for he continued beating the body after life 
was extinct, and jumped upon it until the head and 
trunk were crushed flat, and the brains spread on the 
floor. 

Another circumstance occurred not long since, deep- 
ly revolting to every person of a Christian civilization. 
A Mr. H , a bachelor merchant, and also a foreign- 
er, whose business led him to take a trip up the Mis- 
sissippi as far as some portions of Kentuckj', while 
there, met with a rare chance of purchasing a beauti- 
ful, refined, well educated quadroon girl, Julia K . 

The planter of whom he bought her was her own 
father. Reverses of fortune brought Julia K. to the 
block, and Mr. II. got her. He brought her with him 
to the city, and cstabli.shed her in a beautiful, well 
furnished home ; but she stoutly and nobly refused 



330 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

his terms of peace ; she was educated for freedom, and 
felt herself more than a slave, although in chains and 
in the darkest den, — nay, strongest abode of slavery 
on the face of this sin- cursed earth. She demeaned 
herself like a lady of the higher caste, so long and so 
firmly, that his patience as a suitor was worn out. He 
then tried a convict's regimen, viz. — bread and water 
for a long time, keeping her closely locked in her 
chamber, and employing an old negro servant woman 
as jailor ; but still she resolutely spurned his suit. 
Then he brought in the auxiliary aid of one or two 
of his friends, young gents, to assist in bringing her 
to terms, and together, strange to tell, the cowardly 
trio malignantly bound and scourged this beautifal, 
accomplished woman, until she was dripping with 
blood ; but this only roused her to frenzy as it would 
any virtuous lady and she solemlj'- declared she would 
take her own life or his at the first opportunity, if he 
again attempted to make her more than his servant, 
which she would consent to be. She thus frightened 
these vilhans by the heroism displayed to maintain 
her virtue, but she was sent to the Caktboose or Inqui- 
sition as a refractory, disobedient servant, and whip- 
ped by the ofhcers appointed for this purpose ; but a 
humane lady hearing of the case, went to her master 
and purchased her. And thus the beautiful Ker.tuck. 
ian triumphed and maintained her virtue in tliis syna- 
gogue of Satan, although she became a martyr to a cer- 
tain extent in doing it. 

Another case of savage barbarity which resulted in 
the murder of a poor slave woman, occured on the 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 331 

plantation of S. T., a little w:iy uji tin' rivi-r. 1 will 
give the fiendish monster's account of it in his own 
language, minus the blasphemous, oaiiis he uttered in 
its rehearsal, while boasting of the dee<l to another 
diivin". Said this worse than jiirate, to his friend of 
the lash, "1 whip])ed a woman last week until she 
gave birth to a ehild on the ground while I was whip- 
ping her; and ai few days before, I whipped another 
woman until I thought she was dead, but she revived 
a little and told the niggers to carry her to the hut. 
The next day she sent for me, and wdien I went in she 
told me that she was going to dit>, and that 1 liad killed 
her. But I told her I was glad of it, and I was sor- 
ry I hadn't done it for Jier yesterday ; and she died 
that night." Think of that, dear reader! and thank 
God that you arc not a soul/icrn slave. 

There are large chain-gangs of slave women in this 
city. These gangs are formed by fastening together 
two women, with a chain about ten feet long, around 
the waist of each, and in this condition arc driven 
about the city, day after day, as street scavengers, and 
among them are often many line appearing and deli- 
cate mulatto girls; yet they are here driven to the hard 
toil of shoveling dirt, and doing the heavy labor ot a 
beast; while the proud and- chivalrous southern gentle- 
man wnll pass by and see these women thus degraded 
and brutalized, and never have thought of feeling or 
shame, nor a blush come over them. Such scenes are 
an outrage upon humanity, a deep and damning diS' 
grace to the civilized world. I had been scarcely one 
hour in this city before I came right upon one of these 



332 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

chain-gangs of women. About twenty of them were 
hard at work shoveling clay from the bottom or low- 
water bank of the Mississippi, and wheeling it directly 
across the street where men and boys could see them. 
Some, I noticed were beautiful looking in countenance, 
quite slender in make, and two or three almost white. 
They blushed and walked with downcast eyes as they 
wheeled the ponderous barrow-load of earth across the 
road, most keenly feeling their unwomanly position. 
Dear reader, you may rightly suppose that I was pro- 
voked, outraged, nay, that all the elements of my 
very being rose in opposition to this horrible institu- 
tion called American slavery. 

And yet, here too, in this Christian land, will CJiris- 
tian men and woman witness this more than savage 
brutality, and heed it less than they would if the wo- 
men were dogs, while at the same time these pious 
ladies will contribute money and means to civilize and 
Christianize the poor heathen in some far oif land ; 
nay, more than this, they will indite long prayers and 
repeat them again and again, that Heaven would pros- 
per the great cause which lies so near their heart, of 
turning the poor, brutal heathen from his inhuman 
practices ; and yet these same heathen, if permitted 
to promenade the streets of this city with these pious 
ladies, would be shocked at sights of barbarity and 
cruelty, such as savages would never have the hardi- 
hood to inflict, unless to punish their most deadly ene- 
my. And here let me ask, in view of such cases or 
scenes as are daily witnessed under the sanction of 
public authority, if there is any sense of propriety in 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 838 

men, or any regard for common decency, should not 
public opinion frown upon such men, who nuike these 
regulations, with a force that wouM drive them into the 
haunts of savages, where they properly and constitu- 
tionally belong. 



LIFE IN NEW ORLEANS. 

The social relations of the great mass of society in 
the Crescent City are singularly peculiar, and doubtless 
unlike any other place within the whole range of 
civilization. And the {u-inciples by which the inter- 
course in society is regulated, are strange indeed, espe- 
cially to those who have been educated and taught to 
believe there is some meaning and worth in virtue and 
chastity, and that licentiousness, fornication, and adul- 
tery are crimes, if not in the sight of God, should at 
least be so considered in a moral point of view, as well 
as against the sacredness of the domestic circle and 
peace of society. But here these giant, horrid evils, 
together with the outrages of an abandoned prostitu- 
tion, appear to be regarded as matters that come as 
much within the routine of the social relations, and 
the open and unrestricted indulgence of the citizens, 
as a general thing, as much so as any of the common 
civilities of life. I mean by the great mass. It is true 
there are some noble, honorable exceptions. Ilence to 
be openly known in the practice of these vices — as a 
libertine, or living in adultery or as an excessively 
licentious man, does not degrade him, as at the north, 
or make him the less favored or Ic^ respectable. 



334 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

Indeed there appears to be no such, condition known 
here as adultery, fornication or prostitution, and I 
question verj much whether they have any such terms 
in their code, civil, commercial or otherwise, or ever 
had, or ever will. To the man who is notoriously of 
this description or make, it appears to give a force of 
character, and a degree of consequence, that commands 
respect and deference that makes him the beau ideal 
of a fine fellow and a gentleman in these parts. The 
light in which things of this character are regarded 
here, and the present practice in respect to them, at an 
earlier day than this, would have surprised any one ; 
but considering the character of the earl}^ settlers, it 
would perhaps })e remarkable indeed if this had not 
been exhibited, for those who first came into New 
Orleans were mere adventurers from various parts of 
the world, without attachments to home or place, and 
and many of them without social relations or even 
kindred. Consequently they were creatures of circum- 
stance, and while thus mingling in the varied scenes of 
this great valley, it would be strange indeed if they 
should not have mot females of the same class, and to 
whom they would become attached as companions. 
To presume otherwise would be to conclude against 
the experience of every age, as well as against every 
natural impulse of the human heart. There are hun- 
dreds upon the back of hundreds now living in this 
city like man and wife, with large families round them, 
and yet were never married. Connections of this kind 
though quite too common through the whole south, yet 
they exist in New Orleans to a fearful extent, to an 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 335 

exteut that is not generally known. As evidence on 
this point, a gentleman informed me, that one of the 
ofliciating clergy of this city one day accidently left 
at a house in the Third Municipality his book of record 
for recording marriages, which by the way, the law 
now requires every clergyman to keep. In looking it 
through, said the gentleman, we found to our ast(;nisli- 
mcnt that he had married within the last two years 
thirty three of our neighbors, heads of families, and 
many of them having children married, who had lived 
together as man and wife for thirty years, and as such 
every one had regarded them. They had been pri- 
vately married to enable the children to inherit their 
property, as a law in Louisiana has been enacted with 
a view to meet these very cases. There is also another 
condition found in the social relations of this American 
Corinth, that but very few individuals could reconcile 
themselves to sustain. It is in supporting and having 
two families. There are a large number of business 
men here from the north — merchants, mechanics, 
clerks, captains and officers of steamers, boatmen and 
captains of foreign as well as of American ves.scls who 
spend more than half the time here, and many of them 
have families at home ; yet here they have their mis- 
tresses and children, and are indeed a^s much at home 
with them as with their lawful wives. The condition and 
connection of these persons together are clearly defined 
and perfectly understood, as is also the fact, with most 
of them, that they have another iamily. Yet these 
things are not often made a matter of othei-s, business, 
and consequently they are all " very respectable." 



336 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

This class of females, to some extent, live as confidingly 
honest, and as strictly preserve the character of a wife, 
as if the man had no other attachments. And any act 
on her part of infidelity would be regarded as a suffi- 
cient cause of separation, and she would be discarded 
as readily as if they were lawfully married. Such 
separations often occur from jealousy, or from suspicion 
of attachment to another. And when once a separa- 
tion has actually been made, the parties appear more 
hostile if possible, and manifest a more deadly hatred 
towards each other, than is even witnessed in separa- 
tions of those lawfully connected. And these quarrels 
are seldom if ever reconciled, but continue to increase 
with a savage hatred, that not unfrequently ends sadly 
to one or the other, or to the one who has seduced the 
woman from her alliance. The men as a matter of 
course who thus live in these guilty connections, are 
generally persons of ample means, and usually appear 
to be proud of the distinction of being able to support 
two families. 

^here is still another class of individuals here who 
have not the means to support two families. They are 
for the most part, men engaged in the same business 
with others, and required to be absent from the city 
nearly half the time. These men also have their mis- 
tresses, either white or colored, with whom they live as 
companions. And the regulations of these connections 
are, that while the man is in the city, the house which 
the woman occupies is their home, jointly and as 
distinctly as if they were married ; and when he is 
absent, the woman seeks another companion, for the 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 337 

time being, and in doing this does not in tlie least 
hazard the displeasure of the absent one, or "her hus- 
band" as she calls him. By this liberty that she luvs 
of seeking promiscuous company, and the assistance 
obtained from "/ter 7na«," she is able to support herself 
in great style, and with as much ease and comfort 
around her as can be desired. They usually occupy a 
room, or suite of roomi?; a parlor and bed room, fur- 
nished with as much elegance and splendor as money 
can purchase. Most of the females living in these 
connections have been flattered and seduced, lioor Onngs, 
away from their liomes and friends, by glowing descrip- 
tions and representations of the pleasures, and gaities, 
and unceasing enjojnnents, which go to make up life 
in New Okle.:\:ns. Connections of this character are 
as much a matter of contract, and the terms and con- 
ditions by which each shall be governed are as definite, 
as any other business transaction can be, and thus they 
live for years, and in many instances an attachment 
for each other is the result, and they finally settle 
down as man and wife, and sooner or later are married, 
•and become respectable, for New Orleans at hast. 

THE CRESCENT CITY UNM-\SEED. 

The extent of licentiousness and prostitution here is 
truly appalling, and doubtless without a parallel, and 
probably double to that of any other place in the whole 
civilized world. The indulgence and practice is so 
general and common that men seldom seek to cover up 
their acts, or go in disguise ; but in all these things 
15 



338 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

keeping their mistresses or frequenting bad houses and 
having women coming to their rooms at night, they 
do it as openly, and as much before the eyes of the 
world, as any other act among the common civilities 
of the social circle. Some idea of the extent of pros- 
titution and licentiousness which is here exhibited on 
every side, can be formed from the fact that three fifths 
at least of the dwellings and rooms in a large portion of 
the city are occupied by prostitutes or by one or the 
other class of kept mistresses. Those women who are 
the companions of one man, and hold that position 
under a pledge of confidence not to seek intercourse 
with others, hold themselves very much above the 
character of common prostitutes, and regard them- 
selves as respectable ; and as such many of them 
move in society with some degree of favor and conse- 
quence. The regular prostitutes of this city are com- 
posed of a crowd, — nay an army of broken down fe- 
males so large that they can scarcely be numbered. 

One day in my tour of observation I came pat upon 
whole streets and squares of these localities occupied 
by these poor creatures. There, said I to myself, 
are thousands of ruined, fallen immortal beings, — once 
fair and beautiful, of elevated moral caste, the pride 
and centre of some distant family and social circle : 
perhaps a wife or daughter, the adored of her husband 
and parents, the morning star, or rising sun of a noble 
family, now set forever. The words of Byron rose fresh 
in my mind, 

"To what gulfs 
A single deviation from the track 
Of human duties lead !" 



SLAVEIIV UNMASKED. 339 

Many ofthesc poor, ubundoncd things, I am intormcd, 
come here at the opening of business in the fail, and 
return to the north in the spring as business closes, aa 
regular as mechanics and other business men ; rpiite a 
number of them come out from New York and other 
northern cities under the protection of young men, a 
certain class of gamblers and blackdegs who have 
long made this their field of operation during the 
winter months. The prostitutes of this migratory 
class form the great mass of the inmates of the regular 
kejit brothels, of which their number here is legion. 
The character of these houses cannot be misjudged, 
as the females who occupy them are constantly makinsr 
voluptuous exhibition of themselyes at the doors and 
windows and very unceremoniously inviting men a3 
they pass by to come in. And in some of the prin- 
cipal streets in the city, just at evening, it is no unu- 
sual sight to see the windows and doors of almost 
every house as far as the eye can recognize them, filled 
with these women. xVs bad as New Orleans is, its 
municipal regulations are such that these creatures are 
prohil)ited from publicly promenading the streets; 
henc'3 they are obliged to resort to other measures to 
make themselves known. In view of all these abom- 
inations, doubtless the main cause of so much licen- 
tiousness, and the immense number of prostitutes, of 
every class, grade and color that is human, is the over- 
whelming number of loose irresponsible men who 
frequent this place. Under such circumstances as 
men meet here, they almost lose their identity jis re- 
sponsible beings, having no checks around them, and 



840 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

under no obligation to society, consequently no pride 
of character, they soon become as bold and reckless 
in licentiousness and crime as though the pall of night 
perpetually shrouded their deeds. And yet men, and 
some women too, will come here, and mingle in the 
rounds of dissipation and pollution, who before and 
while at home and in other associations, would shud- 
der at the sight, and even at the very thought of deeds 
they have unhappily been lured into. Such persons I 
daily met at the world renowned St. Charles Hotel 
and watched them with my Argus eyes^ and saw them 
finally consummate the suicidal act upon their own im- 
mortal being — plunge themselves headlong into the 
bottom of the raging, boiling, overflowing cauldron of 
everlasting death. Another cause that aids in promo- 
ting these evils, is the small portion of men who have 
families here. Probably not one in twenty is married, 
and if so, leaves a family at the north, and while here 
entirely forgets that at home he has left a wife, who is 
little di'eaming of the rounds of licentiousness and dis- 
sipation, that constitutes the almost daily track of her 
truant husband. To say that now and then there is 
a righteous Lot among them, would be saying a great 
deal; truth and justice however forbid us to com- 
promise the good with the bad, but this much we are 
forced to say, they are " few and flir between." And 
thus it is, from such men, together with the thousands 
of transient and floating population in this singular 
city, that makes it more than a Sodom, and causes 
the sins of licentiousness, adultery and prostitution, to 
be regarded as the proper elements of society, and 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 341 

perfectly poiisistent with a respectable and moral stand- 
ing in community, and with the character of a gentle- 
man. And more than this is met with here, and 
withal, the most astonishing exhibition of degradation 
" in high life " that was ever witnes.sed, it may be pre- 
sumed, throughout any other j)ortions of the civilized 
earth. While here I was credibly and confidently in- 
formed from a source which may not be questioned, 
of the following refined anti-civilized practices which 
obtain here. It is this : the practice of a large num- 
ber of men with their wives, who visit New Orleans to 
spend the winter, and who to sujiport themselves take 
the round of the gay and fashionaV)le throng, and 
while thus moving here, the wife, with a perfect under- 
standing of the matter with her husband, suffers her- 
self to become seduced, and thus ftills into the arms of 
some wealthy, wild, dashing young southern blood, who 
is proud of his conquest. lie lavishes upon her 
costly pi'esents and monc}^, and in fact will bestow upon 
her any thing that she may demand, within the com- 
pass of his purse. And when he ceases to give large 
sums, the husband contrives to make the accidental dis- 
covery of their in timac}'', and in \he fearless rage of 
an injured husband, threatens to come down upon the 
seducer with all the heated vengeance of southern chi- 
valry. And to save himself the man will pay almost 
any sum the injured husband may demand. Thus the 
wife will go on, for months, making conquest after coti- 
quest, and being seduced at least by half a dozen differ- 
ent men she has victimized, and with all of them, prac- 
tising the most cunning and deceptive arts, charging 



342 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

each oue to be exceedingly circumspect and cautious, so 
as to avoid the least suspicion in the eyes of the world 
and her husband especially. During all this time, her 
hands are filled with costly and magnificent presents 
and money, and in fact, any thing she may desire, while 
each one of her victims regards himself as the sole 
possessor of the stolen fruit! She is enabled to pur- 
sue this course, and avoid suspicion among her favor- 
ites of being intimate with more than one, by meeting 
them at houses of assignation. The regulations by 
which these houses are kept, throw around a female 
the most perfect security against detection that can be 
imagined. They usually go in disguise, I am inform- 
ed, and often in mask, and very frequently are un- 
known to the men who see them there, and their name 
is never inquired for, as it is generall}^ understood, that 
none but respectable ladies^ both married and unmarried, 
frequent these houses. And yet during all these 
love scenes, captivations and seductions, the lady and 
her husband are in the foremost rank of the tashiona- 
ble circle, supporting a stvde and splendor of equipage 
that few can surpass or even imitate. And here it is, 
into this circle, are thrown the virtuous and unsuspect- 
ing visitors who come into this city for pleasure, pas- 
time or business, and if they can pass through and 
come out unsullied and as pure in mind and as chaste 
in their sense of propriety and as virtuous in feeling 
as when they entered, they are equal to tlie three 
Hebrew children at the fiery furnace, and hereafter 
may be perfectly secure, nay, bullet proof, against all 
the wiles of this wicked, seducing, sin -cursed world. 



CHAPTKH XL 

POOR WDITES OF THK SOUTU. 

The number of slavc-lioklcrs in the slave States of 
this Union, as asccrtuincl by the census returns of 
1850, was three hundred and forty-seven thousand five 
hundred and twenty-five. An average of five persons 
and seven-tenths to a flimily, as assumed by the Su- 
perintendent of the Census, would give 1,980,89-i as 
the number of persons interested as slave-holders in 
their own right, or by family relation. The whole 
number of whites in the slave-holding States bemg 
6 222,418, the slave-holding proportion is a fraction 
short of thirty -two per cent. 

The Superintendent of the Census, Professor De 
Bow, says of the nuntber, 3-17,525, returned as slave- 
holders : — 

" The number includes slave-hirers, but is exclusive 
of those who are interested conjointly with others in 
slave property. The two will about balance each 
other, for the whole south, and leave the slave-owners 

as stated. 

" Where the party owns slaves in different counties, 
or in different States, he will be entered more than 
once. This will disturb the calculation very little, 
being only the case among the larger properties." 

The addition of those who are "slave-hirers" merely, 
to the category of slave-owners, must I think, swell 



844 SLAVERT UNMMASKED. 

tteir number much more than is diminished by the 
exch,s,on of " those who are interested conjointl/wih 
others m s are property." Such iustanees of conjoint 
mtcrest wdl occur most frequently in the femily rela- 

pl.ed the number of slare-hoMers returned by 6ye and 
seven-tenths A comparison of the returns from Mary 
land, the D.stnct of Columbia, and Virginia, vvhefe 
slaye.h,r,ng ,s mneh practiced, with Alateu^a Miss's 

K:ti^3:'Z'^'^''''"-^^'-''-^-'- 

wiS.t V^'"-'' ""' *<= District of Columbia, 
w,th 066,683 slaves, return 72,684 slave-owners. Ala- 
bama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, with 897 681 slaves 
-turn 73,081 slave-owners. The relative exctsof 

JJistrie of Columbia, must be attributed, in part, to 
the i„c u.s,on of a relatively larger number of " slave- 

that at least seven-tenths of the whites in the slave 
btates are not slave-owners, either in their own 
right or bj. family relation. The number of white 
males in the slave States, aged twenty-one years and 
upward, in 1850, was 1,490,892. Considerin.. that 
the number of 847,525, returned as slave-owners, is 
subject to some deductions, and considering that of the 
dave-owners many are females and minor.,, it is proba- 

ndnlt r^ f-'"'"''"^ """''"'' °^ *« ^^^^ »ale 
adults of the slave States own slaves 

The non-slave-holding whites of the south, being not 
less than seven-tenths of the whole number of whites, 



SLAVERY UNMASKElt. ^-i^ 

would seem to be entitled to some inquiry into their 
actual condition; and especially, as they have no real 
political weight or consideration in the country, and 
little opportunity to speak for themselves. I have 
been for twenty years a reader of southern newspapers, 
and a reader and hearer of Congressional debates; but, 
in all that time, I do not recollect ever to have seen or 
heard these non-slave-holding whites referred to by 
southern gentlemen, as constituting any part of what 
they call " Oie soutUr When the rights of the south, 
or its wrongs, or its policy, or its interests, or its msti- 
tutions, are spoken of, reference is always intended to 
the rights, wrongs, policy, interests, and mstitutions, ot 
the three hundred and forty-seven thousand slave-hold- 
ers Nobody gets into Congress from the south but 
by their direction; nobody speaks at Washington for 
any southern interest except theirs. Yet there is, at 
the south, quite another interest than theirs; embracing 
from two to three times as many white people ; and, as 
we shall presently see, entitled to the deepest sympathy 
and commiseration, in view of the material, intellectual, 
and moral privations to which it has been subjected, 
the degradation to which it has already been reduced, 
and the still more fearful degradation with which it 
is threatened by the inevitable operation of existing 
causes and influences. 

From a paper on " Domestic Manufactures in the 
South and West," published by M. Tarver, of Mis- 
souri, in 1847, I make the following extracts :— 

" The free population of the south may be divided 
into two classes — the slaveholder and ttie non-slave- 
16* 



^4^ SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

holder. I am not aware that "the relative nimibers 
of these two classes have ever been ascertained in any 
of the States, but I am satisfied that the non-slave- 
holders far outnumber the slave-holders — perhaps by 
three to one. In the more southern portion of this 
region, the non-slave-holders possess, generally, but 
very small means, and the land which they possess is 
almost universally poor, and so sterile that a scanty 
subsistence is all that can be derived from its cultiva- 
tion; and the more fertile soil, being in possession of 
the slave-holder, must ever remain out of the power 
of those who have none. 

" This state of things is a great drawback, and bears 
heavily upon and depresses the moral energies of the 
poorer classes. * * * -. The acquisition of a re- 
spectable position in the scale of wealth appears so dif- 
ficult, that they decline the hopeless pursuit, and many 
of them settle down into habits of idleness, and become 
the almost passive subjects of all its consequences 
And I lament to say that I have observed of late years 
that an evident deterioration is taking place in this part 
of the population, the younger portion of it being less 
educated, less industrious, and in every point of view 
less respectable than their ancestors. * * * * j^ 
is, in an eminent degree, the interest of the slave-holder 
that a way to wealth and respectability should be 
opened to this part of the population, and that en- 
couragement should be given to enterprise and indus- 
try; and what would be more likely to afford this en- 
""TT^T* t^a^ the introduction of manufactures ? 
^ * To the slave-holding class of the popu- 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. ^^"^7 

lation of the south-west, the introduction of manufac- 
tures is not less interesting than to tlie non-shive-hold- 
ing class. The former possess almost all the wealth of 
the country. The preservation of this wealth is a sub- 
ject of the highest consideration to those who possess it." 
This picture is distressing and discouraging; dis- 
tressing, in that it exhibits three-fourths of the whites 
of the siuth substantially destitute of property, driven 
upon soils so sterile that only a scanty subsistence is 
obtainable from them, depressed in moral energies, 
finding the pathway to respectability so difiicult that 
they decline the hopeless pursuit, ceasing to struggle, 
and becoming the almost passive subjects of the conse- 
quences of idleness; discouraging, in that it exhibits 
•this great bulk of the white population growing worse 
instead of better, evidently deteriorating, and ite 
Youncrer portion less educated, less industrious, and 
in ev°ery point of view less respectable, than their 

ancestors. „ t^ -r. ? r> 

In the January number, of 1850, of De Bows Re- 
W, is an article on "Manufactures in South Caro- 
lina," by J. n. Taylor, of Charleston, (S. C.,) Irom 
which I make the following extracts :— 

"There is, in some quarters, a natural jealousy of 
the slightest innovation upon established habits; and 
because an effort has been made to collect the poor and 
unemployed white population into our new fax^tones, 
fears have arisen that some evil would grow out of the 
introduction of such establishments among us 

u Let us, however, look at tliis matter with candor 
and calmness, and examine all its bearings, before we 



348 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

determine that the introduction of a profitable industry 
will endanger our institutions. * * * The poor 
man has a vote as well as the rich man, and in our 
State the number of the former will largely over- 
balance the latter. So long as these poor but indus- 
trious people could see no mode of living except by a 
degrading operation of work with the negro upon the 
plantation, they were content to endure life in its most 
discouraging forms, satisfied they were above the slave, 
though faring often worse than he. But the progress 
of the world is ' onward,' and though in some sections 
it is slow, still it is ' onward,^ and the great mass of 
our poor white population begin to understand that 
they have rights, and that they, too, are entitled to 
some of the sympathy which falls upon the suffering. 
They are fast learning that there is an almost infinite 
world of inclustry opening before them, by which they 
can elevate themselves and their families from wretch- 
edness and ignorance, to competence and intelligence. 
It is this great upheaving of our masses we have to fear ^ so 
far as our institutions are concerned. 

" The employment of the white labor which is now 
to a great extent contending with absolute want, will 
enable this part of our population to surround them- 
selves with comforts which poverty now places be- 
yond their reach. The active industry of a father, the 
careful housewifery of the mother, and the daily cash 
earnings of four or five children, will y&tj soon enable 
each family to own a servant ; thus increasing the de- 
mand for this species of property to an immense ex- 
tent. * * * 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 349 

" The question has often been asked, ' Will south- 
ern operatives equal northern in tlieir ability to aceom- 
plisli factory work ?' As a general answer, I should 
Tei>\y in the affirmative, but at the same time it may 
witli justice be said they cannot at present, even in our 
best factories, accomplish as much as is usual in north- 
ern mills. The habitude of our people has been to 
anything but close application to manual labor, and it 
requires tune to bring the whole habits of a person into 
a new train." 

The italicising in these extracts is Mr. Taylor's, and 
not mine. 

!Mr. Taylor expresses himself in a very confused and 
inartificial way, but it is not difficult to understand 
what he means. He is addressing himself to the slave- 
holding aristocracy, and he describes these poor whites 
very much as a French philosopher would describe 
the blouses of the Faubourg St. Antoine to polite ears 
in the Faubourg St. Germain. The collection into 
towns of the poor and unemployed white population 
of South Carolina had evidently given rise to some 
visions of social outbreak and anarchy, which Mr, 
Taylor feels called upon to dispel. These poor people 
who were willing to be industrious if they had the 
opportunity to be so, but to whom no labor was olfered 
except in degrading connection with plantation negroes, 
had been content to struggle on, enduring life in its 
most discouraging forms, contending witli absolute 
want, and often faring worse than the negro, but yet 
solaced by the satisfaction that they were above the 
negro in some respects. But at length light was begin- 



350 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

ning to penetrate even into Soutli Carolina, and these 
unhappy beings were catching a glimpse of the truth, 
that even they, in their depths of j)overty and humili- 
ation, had some rights, and were entitled to some of 
the sympathy which falls upon the suffering. They 
were fast learning that there existed, in happier com- 
munities, modes of industry, which, if opened to them, 
would elevate them and their families from wretched- 
ness and ignorance to competence and intelligence. 
This knowledge might occasion an up heaving of the 
masses, seriously threatening the social and domestic 
institutions of South Carolina, unless properly directed. 
If, on the contrary, these poor whites could be fur- 
nished with remunerating labor, they would place 
themselves in a position of comfort, and even become 
slaveholders themselves ; thus increasing the demand 
for that sort of property, and enhancing its security. 

From an address upon the subject of manufactures 
in South Carolina, delivered in 1851, before the South 
Carolina Institute, by "William Gregg, Esq., I make 
the following extracts : 

"In all other countries, and particularly manufac- 
turing States, labor and capital are assuming an antag- 
onistical position. Here it cannot be the case ; capital 
will be able to control labor, even in manufactures, 
with whites, for blacks can always be resorted to in 
case of need. * * * From the best estimates that 
I have been able to make, I put down the white people 
who ought to work, and who do not, or who are so 
employed as to be wholly unproductive to the State, 
at one hundred and twenty-five thousand. * * * 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. goi 

By this it appears that but oiic-liflli of tlie present 
poor whites of our State would be ueeessary to operate 
1,000,000 spindle.s. * "=<• * Tl,,. aj.propriation an- 
nually made by our Legislature for our School Fund 
every one must be aware, so far as the country is con- 
cerned, has been little better than a waste of money. 
* * * While we are aware that the northern 
and eastern stiitcs find no difheulty in educating their 
poor, we are ready to d(>spair of success in the matte-r, 
for even penal laws against the neglect of education 
would fail to bring many of our country people to 
send their children to school. * * * j lmy^> jy,jg 
been under the impression, and every day's experience 
has strengthened my convictions, that the evils exist 
in the wholly neglected condition of this class of per- 
sons. Any man who is an observer of things could 
hardly pass through our country without being stmck 
with the fact that all the capital, enterprise, and intel- 
ligence, is employed in directing slave labor ; and the 
consequence is, that a large portion of our poor white 
people are wholly neglected, and are suffered to while 
away an existence in a state but one step in advance 
of the Indian of the forest. It is an evil of vast mag- 
nitude, and nothing but a change in public sentiment 
will effect its cure. These people must be ^brought 
into daily contact with the rich and intelligent — they 
must be stimulated to mental action, and taught to 
appreciate education and the comforts of civilized life- 
and this, we believe, may be effected only by the 
introduction of manufactures. * * * '^[y ex])eri- 
ence at Graniteville has satisfied me, that unless our 



852 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

poor people can be brought together in villages, and 
some means of employment afforded them, it will be 
an utterly hopeless effort to undertake to educate them. 

* * * We have collected at that place about 
eight hundred people, and as likely looking a set of 
country girls as may be found — industrious and 
orderly people, but deplorably ignorant, three-fourths 
of the adults not being able to read or write their 
names. * * * With the aid of ministers of the 
Grospel on the spot, to preach to them and lecture them 
on the subject, we have obtained but about sixty 
children for our school, of about a hundred which are 
in the place. We are satisfied that nothing but time 
and patience will enable us to bring them all out. 

* * * It is very clear to me, that the only means 
of educating and Christianizing our poor whites, will 
will be to bring them into such villages, where they 
will not only become intelligent, but a thrifty and use- 
ful class in our community. * * * Notwith- 
standing our rule, that no one can be permitted to 
occupy our houses who does not send all his children 
to school that are between the ages of six and twelve, 
it was with some difficulty, at first, that we could 
make up even a small school." 

It is noticeable that Mr. Gregg, like Mr. Taylor, 
begins by an attempt to allay patrician jealousies, 
excited by the idea of collecting the poor whites into 
masses. Mr. Grregg points out that the existence of 
slavery enables capital to control white labor as well 
as black, by the power which it retains to substitute 
the latter, when the former becomes unruly. 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 353 

The whole white popuhition of South Carolina, by 
the census of 1850, being only 274,5()3, nearly one 
half, according to Mr. Gregg's estimate, are .substan- 
tially idle and unprotUu-tive, ami would seem to have 
sunk into a condition but little removed fi-oni l»ar- 
barism. All the ea})ital, enterprise, and intelligence, 
of the State, being emj)loyed in directing slave labor, 
these poor whites, wholly neglected, whiling away an 
existence but one .stej) in advance of the Indian of 
the forest, never taught to ajipreeiate education and 
the comforts of civilized life, dejjlorably ignorant, 
and induced with great difficulty, and only by slow 
degrees, to send their children to school, do truly con- 
stitute "an evil of vast magnitude" and call loudly for 
some means o£ ^^ educating and Christian izitig'^ them. 

Gov. Hammond, in an address before the South 
Carolina Institute, in 1850, describes these poor whites 
as follows : 

" They obtain a precarious subsistence by occasional 
jobs, by hunting, by fishing, by plundering fields or 
folds, and too often by what is in its efiects far worse 
— trading with slaves, and seducing them to plunder 
for their benefit." 

Elsewhere Mr. Gregg speaks as follows : 

" Tt is only necessary to build a manui'acturing 
village of .shanties, in a healthy location, in any part 
of the State, to have crowds of these people around 
you, seeking employment at half the compensation 
given to operatives at the north. It is indeed painful 
to be brought in contact with such ignorance and de- 
gradation." 



354 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

Is it really true that South Carolina means to dis- 
solve this Union, if she cannot be permitted to extend 
further, institutions under which one fifth of her peo- 
ple are savages, while another three fifths are slaves ? 

In a paper published in 1852, upon the " Industrial 
Eegeneration of the South," advocating manufactures, 
the Hon, J. H. Lumpkin, of Georgia, says: 

" It is objected that these manufacturing establish- 
ments will become the hot-beds of crime. * * * 
But I am by no means ready to concede that our poor, 
degraded, half-fed, half-clothed, and ignorant popula 
tion — "svithout Sabbath Schools, or any other kind of 
instruction, mental or moral, or without any just appre- 
ciation of character — will be injured by giving them 
employment, which will bring them under the oversight 
of employers, who will inspire them with self-respect by 
taking an interest in their welfare." 

Georgia, it seems, like South Carolina, and under the 
influence of the same great cause, has her poor whites, 
degraded, half-fed, half-clothed, without mental or 
moral instruction, and destitute of self-respect and of any 
just appreciation of character. Is it really true that 
Georgia means to dissolve this Union if she cannot 
be permitted to blast this fair continent with such a 
population as this? 

A paper upon " Cotton and Cotton Manufactures at 
the South," by Mr. Charles T. James, (United States 
Senator,) of Rhode Island, which I find in Dc Bow's 
" Industrial Eesources of the South and West," con- 
tains statements similar, in substance, to those of 
Messrs, Taylor, Gregg and Lumpkin. Mr, James's 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. b55 

pursuits liave made liiin ac([uaiiit('(l with tin' condition 
of manufactures in all sections of tlie country, and his 
essays arc written in a spirit of candor, and even kind- 
ness to the south, as their })ul>lication by De Bow sufli- 
ciently proves. Mr. James says : 

"This is a subject on which, though it demands 
attention, we should sjieak with delicacy. It is not 
to be disguised, nor can it be successfully controvertccl, 
that a degree and extent of poverty and destitution 
exist in the southern states, among a certain class of 
people, almost unknown in the manufacturing districts 
of the north. The poor white man will endure the 
evils of pinching poverty, rather than engage in ser- 
vile labor under the existing state of things, even 
were employment offered him, which is not general. 
The white female is not wanted at service, and if she 
were, she would, however humble in the scale of 
society, consider such service a degree of degrada- * 
tion to which she could not condescend ; and she has, 
therefore, no resource but to suffer the pangs of want 
and wretchedness. Boys and girls, by thousands, 
destitute both of employment and the means of educa- 
tion, grow up to ignorance and poverty, and, too 
many of them, to vice and crime. * * * The 
writer knows, from personal acquaintance and obser- 
vation, that poor southern person.s, male and female, 
are glad to avail themselves of individual efforts to 
procure a comfortable livelihood in any employment 
deemed respectable for white persons. The}' make 
api)lications to cotton mills, where such persons are 
wanted, in numbers much beyond the demand for labor ; 



356 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

and, when admitted there, the}^ soon assume the indus- 
trious habits, and decency in dress and manners, of 
the operativ'CS in northern factories. A demand for 
labor in such establishments is all that is necessary to 
raise this class from want and beggary, and (too fre- 
quently) moral degradation, to a state of comfort, 
comparative independence, and moral and social re- 
spectability. Besides this, thousands of such would 
naturally come together as residents in manufacturing 
villages, where, with ver}" little trouble and expense, 
they might receive a common school education, instead 
of growing up in profound ignorance." 

These remarks of Mr. James are quoted and endors- 
ed in an article upon the " Establishment of Manuflic- 
tures in New Orleans," which I find in De Bow^s Review 
for January, 1850. The writer, whose name is not given 
but who appears to be a citizen of New Orleans, says : 
* " At present, the sources of employment open to 
females (save in menial offices) are very limited ; and 
an inability to procure suitable occupation is an evil 
much to be deplored, as tending in its consequences to 
produce demoralization. 

"The superior grades of female labor may be con" 
sidered such as impl}^ a necessity for education on the 
part of the employee^ while the menial class is general- 
ly regarded as of the lowest ; and in a slave state, this 
standard is " in tlie lowest depths, a lower deep," from 
the fact, that, by association, it is a reduction of the 
white servant to the level of their colored fellow-menials. 

The complaint of low wages and want of employ- 
ment comes from every part of the south. 



aLAVEUV UNMASKED. '6iji 

Mr. Steadmau, of Tonucssce, in a pai)er upon the 
"Extension of Cotton and Wool Factories at the 
sonth," says : 

"In Lowell, labor is paid the fair eompensation of 
eighty cents a day for men, and two dollars a week 
for women, besides board, while in Tennessee the aver- 
age compensation for labor does not exceed fifty cents 
per day for men, and a dollar and twenty-five cents per 
week for women. Snch is the wisdom of a wise division 
of labor." 

In a speech made in Congress five or six years since, 
Mr. T. L. Clingman, of North Carolina, said : 

"Our manufacturing establishments can obtain the 
raw material (cotton) at nearly two cents on a pound 
cheaper than the New England estal )lishmentvS. Labor 
is likewise one hundi-ed per cent cheaper. In the 
upper parts of the state, the labor of cither a free man 
or a slave, including board, clothing, &c., can be ob- 
tained for from $1 10 to $120 per annum. It will cost at 
least twice that sum in New England. The diflerence 
in the cost of female labor, whether free or slave, is 
even greater. As we have now a population of 
one million, we might advance to a great extent in 
manufacturing, before we materially increase the wages 
of labor." 

A Richmond (Va.) newspaper, the Dispatch, says : 

" We will only suppose that the ready-made shoes 
imported into this city from the North, and sold here, 
were manufactured' in Richmond. What a great ad- 
dition it would be to the means of employment ! IIow 
many boys and females would find the means of 



858 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

earning their bread, who are now suffering for a regu- 
lar supply of the necessaries of life." 

The following statistics from the census of 1850 
show the number of whites (excluding foreign -born) 
in certains states, and the number of white persons, 
(excluding foreign-born,) in such states, over twenty 

years of age, unable to read and write : 

Unable to read 
States. Whites and write. 

New Enirland states 2.399.651 G.209 

New Yoik 2,393,101 23,240 

Alabama -419,016 33,618 

Arkansas 160.721 16 792 

Kentiu-kv 7:^0,012 64,340 

Missomi.' 515,434 34,420 

Virginia 871.847 75 868 

North Carolina 550,463 73 226 

South Carolina 266.055 15.580 

Georgia 515,120 40,794 

Tennessee 751,198 77,01' 

The evils wliich afflict the slave states are various 
and complicated ; but they all originate with, or are 
aggravated by, that fatal in.stitution which Washing- 
ton, Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and all the great men 
of the south of the Revolutionary epoch deplored, but 
which the madness of modern times hugs as a bless- 
ing- 

The wages of labor are always low in countries ex- 
clusively agricultural. Industry begins to be fairly 
rewarded, when it is united with skill, when employ- 
ments are properly divided, and when the general 
avera"-e of education and intelligence is raised by the 
facilities afforded by density of population. The grain- 
growing regions of Eastern Europe are tilled by serfs ; 



SLAVKUV UN. MARKED. 



it is only in Western Europe that we find industry en- 
joying any tolerable measure ol eonijjetence, intelli- 
gence, and respeetability. Agriculund countries are 
comparatively poor, and manufacturing and connner- 
cial countries are etnnparatively rich; because rude 
labor, even upon rich roils, is less juoduetive than 
skilled labor, aided by mncliinerv and aceuiiiuhitcd 
capital. That the south is almost exclusively agrii-ul- 
tural, results, especially in the more northerly slave 
states, (which have admirable natural facilities for 
mining and manufacturing,) from the institution of 
slavery, under which there cannot be in the organiza- 
tion of society that middle class, which, in free states, 
is the nursery <>f intelligent and enterprising industry 
The whites at the south not connected with the 
ownershi}) or management of slaves, constituting not 
far from three-fourths ot the whole number of whites, 
confined at best to the low wages of agricultural laljor, 
and partially cut off even from this by the degradation 
of a companionship with black slaves, retire to the out- 
skirts of civilization, where they lead a semi-savage 
life, sinking deeper and more hopelessly into barbar- 
ism with each succeeding generation. The slave- 
owner takes at fii-st all the best land, and finally all 
the land susceptible of regular cultivation ; and the 
poor whites, thrown back upon the hills and u})«)n the 
sterile soils — mere squatters, without energy enough 
to acquire title even to the cheap lands they (x;cupy, 
without roads, without schools, and at length without 
even a desire for education, become the miserable 
beings described to us by the writei-s whom I have 



60 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

quoted. In Virginia and all the old slave States, 
immense tracts belonging to private owners, or aban- 
doned for taxes, and in the south-west, immense tracts 
belonging to the government of the United States, are 
occupied in this way. Southern agriculture, rude and 
w^asteful to the last degree, is not fitted to grapple 
with difficulties. It seizes upon rich soils, and flour- 
ishes only while it is exhausting them. It knows 
how to raise cotton and corn, but has no flexibility, 
no power of adaptation to circumstances, no inventive- 
ness. The poor white, if he cannot find bottoms 
whereon to raise grain, becomes a hunter upon the 
hills which might enrich him with flocks and herds. 

In the first settlement of the new and rich soils of 
the south-west, these evils were less apparent; but the 
downward progress is rapid and certain. First the 
farmer without slaves, and then the small planter, suc- 
cumbs to the conquering desolation. How feelingly 
it is depicted in the following extract from an address 
delivered by the Hon. C. C. Clay, Jr., of Alabama : — 

*' I can show you, with sorrow, in the older por- 
tions of Alabama, and in my native count}^ of Madi- 
son, the sad memorials of the artless and exhaust- 
ing culture of cotton. Oar small planters, after taking 
the cream off their lands, unable to restore them by 
rest, manure, or otherwise, are going further west 
and south, in search of other virgin lands, which t^ej 
may and will despoil and impoverish in like manner. 
Our wealthier planters, with greater means and no 
more skill, are buying out their poorer neighbors, ex- 
tending their plantations, and adding to their slave 



SLAViiUY UN xM ASK ED. oOl 

force. . The wealthy few, who are able to live on smal- 
ler profits, and to give their blasted fields some rest, 
are thus pushing off the many who are merely inde- 
pendent. Of the $20,000,000 annually realized from 
the sales of the cotton crop of Alabama, nearly all not 
expended in supporting the producers is re-invested 
in land and negroes. Thus the white populati(jn has 
decreased and the slave inereased almost pari passu 
in several counties of our state. In 1820, Madison 
county east about 3,000 votes ; now, she cannot cast 
exceeding 2,300. In traversing that county, one will 
discover numerous farm-houses, once the abode of in- 
dustrious and intelligent freemen, now occupied by 
slaves, or tenantless, deserted, and dilapidated; he will 
observe fields, once fertile, now unfeneed, abandtjned, 
and covered with those evil harbingers, fox-tail and 
broomsedge; he will see the moss growing on the 
mouldering walls of once tJirifty villages, and will 
find 'one only master grasps the whole domain,' that 
once furnished happy homes for a dozen white fiimilies. 
Indeed, a country in its infancy, where fifty years ago 
scarce a forest tree had been felled by the axe of the 
pioneer, is already exhibiting the painful signs of sen- 
ility and decay, ajiparent in Virginia and the Carolinas." 
it is undoubtedly true that the condition of the 
south would bo vastly ameliorated if its pursuits were 
more diversified, if its great facilities for mining and 
manufacturing were improved, and if its wasteful 
systems of agriculture were changed. The profits of 
capital would be rais^'d, and the productiveness of la- 
bor would be enhanced. To a certain extent, i)erhap3, 
the free laborer might be benefited by the greater em- 
ployment and h'gher wages which would result; but 
the same fatal, overshadowing evil which has driven 
him from the field, would drive him from the work- 
shop and the factory, llveret in latere letlialis arundo. 
Even Mr, Gregg, from whom I have quoted above, 
says that "o// overseers, who have ex/)eriaice in the 
m/xiter, give the decided preference to blacJcs as opera- 
IG 



362 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

tivesy Mr. Montgomery, in his treaties on the " Cot- 
ton Manufacturies of the United States compared with 
Great Britain,'''' states that " there are several Cotton 
Factories in Tennessee, operated entirely hy slave la- 
bor, there not being a ivhite man in the mill but the 
superintendent.'''' The employment of slaves is com- 
mon everywhere at the south, in factories and mining. 
The author of " The Future of the South'' (De Bow's 
Review, vol. 10, page 146) says that " tJie blacks are 
equally serviceable in factories as infields.'''' 

A writer in the Mississippian says : — 

" Will not our slaves make tanners ? And can they 
not, when supplied with materials, make peg and other 
shoes? Cannot our slaves make plows and harrows, 
&c. ? The New England States cannot make and 
send us brick and frame houses, and therefore we 
have learned that our slaves can make and Jay bricks, 
and perform the work of house joiners and carpenters. 
In fact, we know that in mechanical pursuits, and 
manufacturing cotton and woollen goods, the}- are fine 
laborers." 

The statesman, like Gov. Hammond, looking at the 
matter from a statesman's point of view, may recom- 
mend, as he does, the employment of poor whites in 
factories, as being upon the whole, although immedi- 
ately less cheap, more for the general good of the com- 
munity. Men are not governed in matters of business 
by any such consideration as this. If slave labor is 
adapted to factories, as it would seem to be, and is 
cheaper than white labor, as it would also seem to be, 
it will be employed, be the consequences to the com- 
munity ever so disastrous. And where it is employed 
at all, it will be employed exclusively, as in the Ten- 
nessee factories, from the insuperable repugnance of 
whites to labor side by side and on an equality with 
black slaves. 

The difficulty in the case is invincible. The prop- 
erty-holders of the south own a vigorous and service- 
able body of black laborers, who can be fed for twenty 



SLAVERY UNMARKED. oOo 

dollars per annum, and clothed for ten dollars })cr an- 
num ; who can be kept industrious and preserved from 
debilitating vices by coercion, by no means inapt in 
the simpler arts, naturally docile, and under any tolera- 
ble treatment, " fat and sleek ;" such is the terriljlc, 
the overwhelming, the irresistible competition, to 
which the non-])r()])erty-h()lding thri'e-(iuartei-s of the 
whites at the south are subjeeteil, when they come into 
the market with their labor. 

It is not wonderful that they sock escape from the 
nightmare which broods over them, and fly by thou- 
sands to the refuge of the free States. The census of 
1850 found ()00,'37i persons living in the free States 
who were born in the slave States, while only 20(3,038 
persons born in the free States wen> living in the slave 
States. The number of emigrants from free to slave 
States, and from slave to free States, living in 1850, 
have been carefully collected from Table CXX, found 
on the 116th page of the Compendium of the Census 
of 1850. That table gives the nativity of the " white 
and free colored population^''' without distinguishing the 
two classes ; but the "y)-ee colored p'opulcdioii^ is too 
small, and its movement too slight, to affect the sub- 
stantial accurac}' of the calculation. On the 115th 
page of this Compendium is found the following state- 
ment : — 

" There are now 726,450 persons living in slave- 
holding States who arc natives of non-slave-holding 
States, and 282,112 persons living in non-slave-hold- 
in<i^ States who are natives of slave-holdini^ States." 

This is a manifest error, and I supposed at fii'st that 
there was a transposition of the numbers, but upon 
calculation, find the true numbers to be as given in the 
text. It is to be observed that the white j)0})ulation 
of the free States is double that of the slave States, so 
that the per centage of southern whites moving north 
is six times greater than that of northern whites 
moving south. 

It is to be observed also, in reference to what little 



364 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

emigration there is from the free to the slave States, 
that it results from the fact that the domestic institu- 
tions of the latter do not encourage the development 
of mercantile enterprise, mechanical skill, and general 
business capacity, and that the deficiency in those re- 
spects is necessarily supplied from abroad. Of viere 
labo7\ there is absolutely no movement from the free to 
the slave States. 

Of the persons who have emigrated from the border 
slave States, and who were living in other States in 
1850, the following table will show the numbers living 
in free and slave States, respectively : — 

Living in Living in 

Emigrated from free States. slave States. 

Delaware, 25,182 6,739 

Maryland, 86,004 41.627 

Virginia, 182,424 204.961 

Kentucky, 148,680 107,844 

Missouri, 20,244 14,682 

Total 462,534 375,853 

If from 838,887, the entire number of emigrants 
from these States, we deduct one-fourth part, assumed 
to be holders of slaves, and therefore compelled to se- 
lect their residence in slave States, we have left 628,- 
790 as the number of emigrants not holders of slaves, 
and therefore at liberty to select their residence in free 
or slave States, as they might think best. Of this 
number 462,534, or a fraction short of seventy-four 
per cent., selected the free States. 

Of the persons who have emigrated from the border 
free States, and who were living in other States in 
1850, the following table will show the numbers living 
in free and slave States, respectively : — 



8LAVKUY UNMASK KD. 365 

Living in Livinr) in 

Emigrated from free States. slave Statea. 

New Jersey, 114,r)ll 18,418 

Tennsyl vania, 30G,;) 1 7 .-i^.-lOO 

Ohio, 15i),l»:}8 2:J,7 70 

Indiana, G0,141 24,780 

Illinois, 2-2,707 20,058 

Iowa, ;},357 1,758 

Total, 832,971 152.044 

Of the emigration from the border States, it is to be 
observed that its direction, whether to free or to slave 
States, is less controlled by the consideration of cli- 
mate than is the direction of the emigration from the 
extreme north or the extreme south. 

The following table shows the number of persons 
living in 1850 in Illinois, Indiana and Missouri, who 
emigrated from the slave States, excluding the border 
States, and excluding Arkansas, which is adjacent to 
Missouri : — 

Emigrated to IIU- Emigrated 
Emigrated from nois and Indiana, to Missouri. 

North Carolina, 47,020 17,009 

South Carolina, 8,231 2,919 

Georgia, 2,102 1,254 

Tennessee, 45,037 44,970 

Alabama, 1,730 2,007 

Mississippi, 777 038 

Louisiana 701 746 

Texas, 107 248 

Florida, 44 67 

Total, 105,755 09,918 

Here is an emigration involving considerable jour- 
neys, and not controlled by the consideration of imme- 
diate proximity. It is an emigration to States very 
similar in local position and physical characteristics. 
Such difterences as do exist, however, in climate 
and productions, would incline the southern emi- 
grant to Missouri. Yet we find three-fifths of theso 



S6ii SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

emigrants placing tliemselves voluntarily under the 
operation of the Ordinance of 1787. It is a fair infer- 
ence, and it is true, that the real wishes as well as the 
real interests of a majority of the whites of the south 
are in opposition to the extension of slavery ; but it is 
only the minority of slave-holders, which is represented 
in Congress, or which has otherwise any political 
weight in the country. 

It is unquestionable that the immigration from the 
south has brought into the free States more ignorance, 
poverty and thriftlessness, than an equal amount of the 
immigration from Europe. Where it forms a marked 
feature of the population, as in southern Illinois, a long 
time must elapse before it is brought up to the general 
standard of intelligence and enterprise in the free 
States. This remark is made is no spirit of unkind- 
ness. The whites of the south are nearly all of the 
Revolutionary stock. They are a fine, manly race. 
Their valor, attested upon a hundred battle-fields, 
shone untarnished and still resplendent in the last 
conflict of the Republic. No banner floated more 
defiantly, amid the smoke and fire of the Valley of 
Mexico, than that up-borne by the inextinguishable 
gallantry of the sons of South Carolina. I feel for 
that unhappy people all the ties of kith aiid kin. 
God forbid that any avenue should be closed, by 
which they may escape out of the horrible pit of their 
bondage. If the Constitution permits the south to re- 
capture their fugitive blacks, happily it does not per- 
mit them to recapture their fugitive whites. 

It is said that no equal number of negroes were 
ever so well off, upon the whole, as the slaves of the 
south, and that, in contrast with their native barbar- 
ism, their present lot, hard as it is, is one of improve- 
ment and comparative advancement. Even if this be 
true, even if three millions and a half of people of 
African blood have been raised in the scale of civiliza- 
tion, the price paid for it is too costly. An equal num- 
ber of people of the Caucasian stock have been de- 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. Ji07 

privod of all that constitutes civilization, and thrust 
down into barbarism ; thus reversing tlui ordfr of 
Providence, and sacrilicing the su})erior t(; the inferior 
race. 

It is said that an extension of the area of Slavery 
would add to the jjcrsonal comfort of the slaves, at 
least for a considerable period of time. Even if this 
be so, our first and hi«^hcst duty is to our own race ; 
and it will be a most flagrant and inexcusable folly to 
permit such a sacrilice of it as we now witness in the 
southern States, to be enacted over again upon the vast 
areas of the west. Where the two races actually co- 
exist, the relation which may best subsist between 
them may aftbrd fair matter for dispute; V)ut it is 
against the clear and manifest dictates of common 
sense, voluntarily, willingly and with our eyes open, 
to subject the white man to a companionship which, 
under any relation, is an incumbrance and a curse. 

It is for the intelligent self-interest, the Christian 
philanthrophy of the people of this great country, with 
all the lights of the past and the present blazing with 
such effulgent brightness that none but the judicially 
blinded can fail to see, to determine whether the sys- 
tem of black slaver}' shall inflict upon regions now mir 
and virgin from the hands of the Creator, its train of 
woes, which no man can number, which no eloquence 
can exaggerate, and of which no invective can heighten 
the hideous reality. It is for the peoj)l(> of this great 
country to determine whether the further spread of a 
system, of which the worst fruits are not seen in wasted 
resources and in impoverished fields, but in a neglected 
and outcast people, shall be left to the accidents of lati- 
tude, of proximity, of border violence, or of the doubtr 
fid assent of embryo communities; or whether, on the 
other hand, it shall be staye(Fby an interdiction, as 
univcrs;il as the superiority of Good to Evil, as per- 
petual as the rightful authoritv of reason in the aftairs 
of men, and as resistless as the embodied will of the 
nation. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE EFFECT OF SLAVERY ON LABOR — FREE LABOR 
VS. SLAVE LABOR. 

The census taken in 1850, is imperfect and iiusatis- 
factoiy in many particulars. But it was a laborious 
attempt to ascertain a variety of facts, and, as a general 
thing it doubtless approaches near enough to accuracy 
to indicate the truth. At all events no other state- 
ment of the condition of the country at that time, as 
complete and reliable as this national census, has come 
before the public. Little is gained by merely ascer- 
taining and publishing the statistics of a State. It 
only brings the unwrought ore to the surface, and, if 
left there in that condition, it remains a pile of rubbish. 
A comparison of the facts learned from the census, an 
analysis of these facts, a series of inferences or deduc- 
tions from them, give practical value to those figures. 
If carefully studied, they expound the mj^stery of 
national life, and show the causes which sap the 
strength of communities and make them wither and 
languish even in their youth. These inductions con- 
vert the shapeless mass of figures into system and 
symmetry, and form the science of political economy. 

It is a matter of fair inference from these census 
tables, that some great and radical cause or circum- 
stance operates in all the slaves states, to retard their 
increase in population and wealth. This fact, if, it be 
a fact, is of great importance to the entire country, 
and should be ascertained if possible. To know pre- 
cisely the cause of a malady leads sooner or later to 
the discovery of a suitable remedy. 

In investigating this question, we are happily re- 
lieved from one element of dispute. The facts and 



SLAVEUY UNMASK KI), 369 

figures arc presented to us l)y our common Govern- 
ment, and we arc not perplexed by contradictory 
assertions of existing facts, and by att<'in[)trf to ascer- 
tain the actual truth. The whole process of inquiry 
is a mere train of reasoning or inference from acknow- 
ledged data. 

It is probabK^. that no eom])letely satisfactory con- 
clusion could be attained by comparitig the statistics 
•'of States extremely n-mote from each otiier, and having 
few things in common. The States selected for this 
purpose ought to resemble each other in climate, soil, 
geographical position and natural advantages of all 
kintls, and diller mainly in tiie fact that one uses free 
labor and the other slave labor. These conditions arc 
most likely to be secured by taking states actually 
contiguous to each other, and very similar in natural 
or physical advantages, and date of settltMiient. 

We will then take Pennsylvania and Virginia of 
the old states, and Ohio and Kentucky of the new 
states. For the facts we will resort to De Bow's Com- 
pendium, published by the Senate of 185i, and no one 
south of Mason and Dixon's line will claim that a 
document coming from such source emanated from 
hostility to southern institutions, or misrepresents facta 
to the disadvantage of slave labor. 

The facts ascertained at each census during the 
present century and brought together in this comiien- 
dium, leave little doubt that slavery retards the natu- 
ral increase of population, lowers the average standard 
or aggregate of common school education, depreciates 
the value of land or prevents it from increasing in 
value in the same proportion as land wrought by free 
labor, and operates generally to reduce and wa.ste the 
property and natural resources of the community. 

In the case of Virginia and Pennsylvania the 
orginal and natural advantages are greatly in fovor of 
Virginia. Her river.s, harbors on the Atlantic, climate, 
soil and geographical position are unsurpa&sed, and 
when these colonics became sovereign states, Virginia 
16* 



370 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

stood, where she ought to have remained, the Empire 
state. A comparison between Virginia and Pennsyl- 
vania is at least fair for Virginia. 

Virginia contains 61,352 square miles, Pennsylvania 
46,000. Virginia has a shore line of 65-1 miles;" Penn- 
sylvania reaches the ocean through a difficult river and 
bay channel. Both states were slave states when the 
first census was taken. Compare the white popula- 
tion at each census. ^ 

1700] Penn. 424,0991 j Penn. 586,094Lq,„ ( Penn. 786,804 

""'^]Virg'a 442,115P*^^'t);|y;^g,jj gu.osoP^l'^ j Virg'a 551,534 

18'>oi ^*^°°-''"^'^''^9*liB'^r.J Penn. 1, 309.9001, „.. j Penn. 1,676,115 
^«-"^Virg'a 6n3,0S7r'^^*i Virg'a 694.3oupS40 j ^j^^,^ '^^^^g.g 

jg,|^ j Pennsylvania 2,258,160 

/Virginia 894,800 

The total population of free and slaves in these two 
states at each census during the present century is as 
follows : 

iooaJ Penn- G02,361L<,,,, j Penn. 810,0911, „,,, j Penn. 1, '140,458 
^«'-"M Virg'a 88O,20o|^^^'M Virg'a 974,622|^^-'^' ] Virga.1.065,379 
iR^ni Penn. 1, 348,2331, o,,,( Penn. 1,724,0331, „_. Penn. 2,311,780 
.^**"**^|Va. l,211,405P^*'^<Va. 1,239,797P^^'^ ] Va. 1,4211661 

These figures show at a glance that whatever natural 
advantages Virginia may have over Pennsylvania for 
the support and increase of population, some cause 
operates uniforml}- to nullify these advantages. We 
can discover no accidental temporary check ; but there 
seems to be some great and permanent drag upon her 
progress. 

By the laws of nature, the increase of population 
keeps space with the increase of food and accumulation 
of products consumed by man ; and the only efficient 
resource to obtain these products is labor. There 
must be some radical defect in the system of labor 
adopted by Virginia. This defect may be in the occu- 
pation of labor or in the quality of labor. In other 
words, labor may be wrongly directed and may be 
wasted in unprofitable employments, no matter 
how skilled that labor may be ; or labor may be so 
unskilled and rude in quality that it will fail to 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 371 

be productive to its owner in any department of 
industry. 

A comparison of the direction or occupation of labor 
in those two States will assist in solving the (lUfstion 
whether the relative progress of Virginia and Penn- 
sylvania is caused by the dilVcrent system of lab(jr 
enijiloyed in those States. 

The census tables exhibit the occupations of all the 
white males of more than fifteen yeai-s of age ; but it 
must be borne in mind that they do not state the occu- 
pation of the slaves, or, in otlier words, of 428,211) 
of the laborers of Virginia. So that in all departments 
of labor where slaves arc employed they fail to show 
the true number of laborers m Virginia. 

The numbers returned as engaged in any kind of 
emi)loyment are, in Pennsylvania, (580,(344 ; in Vir- 
ginia, 226,875 — classified as follows: In conunerec, 
manufactures and mining, in Pennsylvania, 2(3(i,027 
in Virginia, 52,675. In agriculture in Pennsylvania, 
207,595 ; in Virginia, 108,864. In otiier kinds of 
labor, not agricultural, Pennsylvania, 163,628 ; Vir- 
ginia, 48,338. If to these numbers a reasonable allow- 
ance be made in favor of Virginia, by distributing her 
slave labor in its probable direction, it is apparent that 
Virginia employs a number of laborers as great in pro- 
portion to po])ulation as Pennsylvania. It is apparent, 
also, that the departments of labor, or the channels in 
which the industry of those two States flow, are not 
so extremely ditferent as to explain why labor produces 
such unequal returns or surpluses in the two States. 

It follows, then, that the cause of the dilFerence is 
mainly, if not solely, in the kind of labor or cpiality 
of labor. An amount of labor occupying the same 
space of time, and costing the same wages or expense, 
produces unequal returns or products. This inference 
follows from these tables. The agricultural industry 
of Pennsylvania is employed upon an area of 8,623,- 
619 acres of improved land, and Virginia arc 10,360,- 
135 acres, and yet the gross products of Virginia are 



372 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

far less tlian those of Pennsylvania, and the average 
yield per acre scarcely one half of that of Pennsyl- 
vania. The gross amount of wheat, corn and rye 
produced in those states is as follows: Wheat in 
Pennsylvania 15,367,691, and in Virginia 11,212,616 
bushels ; corn in Pennsylvania 19,835,214, and in 
Virginia 35,254,319 bushels; rye in Pennsylvania 
4,815,160, and in Virginia 438,930 bushels. The 
average crops per acre are : Wheat in Pennsylvania 
15, in Virginia 7 bushels ; corn in Pennsylvania 20, 
in Virginia 18 bushels ; rye in Pennsylvania 14, in 
Virginia 5 bushels. If it be claimed that these are not 
the great staples of Virginia, the answer may be made 
that they are worth more than all other crops ; and 
even if her tobacco be brouo-ht into the statement, it will 
not substantially change the result. The dair}^ pro- 
ducts and hay crop of Pennsylvania exceed those of 
Virginia in amount nearly to the entire value of the 
total tobacco and cotton crops of Virginia. 

These figures, showing the products of labor, sug- 
gest an inference that such unequal results must re- 
act upon property and tend to reduce its value. The 
value of property is estimated by its average income 
or returns. Real estate in Virginia seems to form no 
exception to this rule. Rude and unproductive labor 
fidls to develop the resources of the soil, and the 
market value of the land sinks to its proper relation 
to rents or income from the land. The total value of 
improved lands in Pennsvlvania and Virginia, is given 
as follows: Pennsylvania, $407,876,099; Virginia, 
$216,401,543. In other words the ten millions of 
acres in Viro^inia are worth little more than half as 
much as the eight millions in Pennsylvania. The ori- 
ginal or natural value of land in Virginia fully equalled 
that of Pennsylvania. Labor has made the differ- 
ence. 

But the profits of the two systems of labor can be 
tested by other facts equally conclusive. Skilled 
labor, requiring knowledge of the arts with no greater 



SLAVKKV UNMMASKt;i). '67'6 

use of the muscles, is usually most procluctive to its 
owner. In these departments of labor, Pennsylvania 
counts 200,927; Virginia, 52,07") pei-sons. Pfimsyl- 
vania has a larger ratio of skilled labor than Virginia, 
and avails hei'self of it by converting a raw niati-rial 
worth :^>l7, 200,877 into manufactured articles worth 
$155,044,5110, while Virginia has not the means of 
converting her $18, 101),9!'»;J into $29,705,887. Wealth 
has consequently accunmlated in Pennsylvania and 
diminished in Virginia. Virginia has 189 miles of 
Canals; Pennsylvania, 980. The Pailroads of Vir- 
ginia cost .$12,720,424 ; of Pennsylvania, $58,494,075. 
The value of all the ju'operty owned by individuals 
in these States is returned as follows: I'ennsylvania, 
$729,144,998; Virginia, $89l,040,48.S. This wealth 
has been created by labor. It is the accumulation of 
surpluses — the aggregate amount of products not con- 
sumed in the cost of production, the balance going 
into the general stock of reserved property. 

The lirst fifty years ot the present century have seen 
Virginia siidc from her prominence into a fourth-rate 
State in popvdation antl wealth, while Pennsylvania 
has advanced step by step with the growth of the Ee- 
public. The accumulated products of Pennsylvania 
labor remain uncousumed to the extent of more than 
$729,000,000, while the products of Virginia amount 
to but .$391,040,488, of which at least $150,000,000 is 
in slaves. And yet the cost of labor is ajiarently 
greater in Pennsylvania. The average rate of wages 
for farm labor being $10 82 in Pennsylvania, and $8 
in Virginia per month. But it is the value of lal.)or to 
the employer that must determine wheather it is cheap 
or dear to him. The cheap labor of Virginia has re- 
duced her to poverty. 

Kentucky and Ohio, with antecedents and condi- 
tions quite different from those of Virgnnia and Penn- 
sylvania disclose a similar train of consequences 
flowing from their different systems of labor. 

The area of these States is nearly the same, Ohio 



874: SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

containing 39,96-i square miles, and Kentucky 37,680. 
The population at each census has been as follows : 

1800. 1810. 1820. 1830. 1840. 18.50' 

Ohio 45,365 280 766 581,434 939,903 1,519.464 1,980,329 

Kent'y 220,955 406,511 564,317 687,719 779,824 982,4ii6 

In this 982,405 are included 10,011 free blacks and 
210,981 slaves, while Ohio contains 25,279 free blacks 
and no slaves. 

The statement of the figures establishes beyond all 
question that some great cause operates permanently 
and with uniform force to retard the increase of popu- 
lation in Kentucky as compared with that of Ohio. 
No one can say that the climate in Kentucky is not 
genial to our race, or that the soil makes a grudging 
return to labor, or that the state is shut off by diffi- 
cult barriers from intercourse with the world, and has 
no great natural avenues to facilitate her commerce. 
The physical capacities and business of the state are 
most affluent and abundant. Her system of labor is 
tbe foundation and sole cause of this disparity. 

A brief examination of the census tables will ena- 
ble us to ascertain whether the defect in the Kentucky 
system of labor consists in the misdirection of labor or in 
the quality of tlie labor — in other words, whether Ohio 
bas chosen more productive occupations for her indus- 
try, or given to each department a better quality of 
labor than Kentucky uses in similar cases. 

The departments or occupations of labor in the two 
states are not extremely different. In agricultural la- 
bor, Ohio employes 270,362, Kentucky 115,017 per- 
sons. In other labor, neither agricultural nor mechan- 
ical, Ohio 92,766 and Kentucky 28,413. In common 
manufactures and the arts, Ohio 142,687, Kentucky 
34,598 ; but it must be borne in mind that this state- 
ment embraces only whites, and does not indicate the 
occupation of the 210,981 slaves. Add these laborers 
to the corps of laborers, and distribute them in their 
probable divisions of labor, and no very material dif- 
ference would be discovered in the relative number in 



SLAVEKV UNMASKED. .Jio 

eacli state engaged in similar kinds of labor, except in 
that department requiring skill and training. It seems 
probable that in the manufaeturing and commercial 
labor of the two states, Ohio would have the greater 
ratio of persons employed. But it might be said that 
a large ])ortion of the industry of Kentucky is em- 
ployed is raising cattle and live stock, and that no 
great advantage is gained by em{)loying in that de- 
partment any but the rude labor demanded from a 
mere herdsman. The fact hardly sustains the infer- 
ence, even if the inference were a sound one. Ohio 
has in live stock $-44,111,741, Kentucky $29,661,436. 
It is the quality of labor, rather than its divisions 
or occupations, that distinguishes the industry ol' these 
states. Labor in the same occupation costs less and 
produces more in Ohio than in Kentucky. The aver- 
age product of an acre in these states is as follows: 
Wheat in Ohio 12 bushels ; in Kentucky, 8 ; Corn in 
Ohio, 36 ; in Kentucky, 24 ; Rye in Ohio, 25 ; in 
Kentucky, 11. The great bulk of products in both 
states is agricultui-al ; Ohio cultivates an area of 9,- 
851,498 acres, and Kentucky 5,968,270 ; and the aver- 
age product of an acre in Ohio is nearly fifty per cent 
greater than in Kentucky. The products of certain 
great staples in each state are as follows : 

pounds. tiiiifi. 

™, ( Kcnt'kv-.55,o01,10G „„„^ (Kentucky 17,7S7 

Tobacco, j Ohio-.'.-. I0,4o4:449 "^'"»'- ■- ( Ohio 150 

bushels. bushels. 

.„, , < Ohio 14,487,3.51 p„^„ ( Kentucky. ..j8,f,72,5".>l 

Uiieat-- ■JKp„t„^.ijy 2,142,822 *"*'"' -• '| Ohio .5'.»,n79,6H5 

bushels. pounds. 

( Oliio .5,8(15,021 Dairy (Ohio .5.5,2i;H,'.t21 

Potatoes. -^ Kentucky. 1,03.5,085 prod'ts. "( Kentucky.. .lo,ir,l,477 

pounds. tuns. 

„, , ( Ohio.... 10,1 '.t«,371 ,,„ \ Ohio 1.443,142 

Wool I Kentucky 2,292,433 ^- "/ Kentucky. ... 113,707 

The difference in the quality of labor is mo.st evident 
in those departments requiring skill. Ohio by me- 
chanical labor adds twenty-eight millions to raw mate- 



876 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

rials in tlie process of her manufactures, Kentucky only 
twelve millions. 

One of the most obvious results has been that a 
great difference exists in these states in the mass of 
surpluses, or property remaining after paying the cost 
of production, and constituting the capital or wealth 
of the country. The total value of property of all 
kinds belonging to persons in Ohio is $504,762,120, 
and in Kentucky $301,628,456. Ohio has 921 miles 
of canals made, Kentucky 486. Ohio has constructed 
railroads costing $44,927,058, Kentucky $4,909,990. 
But in contrasting in result of labor in these 
states, and looking at its aggregate product, it is im- 
portant to remark that the $301,628,456, given as the 
total value of property in Kentucky, incUides the 
value of 210,981 slaves. If it be assumed that the 
average value of these slaves equals $500 each, one- 
third of this $300,000,000 is not natural property, 
available to the owner everywhere, but fictitious pro- 
perty, made property by local laws and not by the laws 
of nations or nature. The accumidation of surpluses 
in Ohio exceeds $500,000,000 of natural property ad- 
mitted by all civilized nations to belong to its owner, 
while Kentucky has less than $200,000,000 of simihxr 
property, and little over $300,000,000, including the 
value of her slaves. 

The average products of labor in Kentucky are 
nearly fifty per cent less than in Ohio, and to enable 
Kentucky to compete with Ohio in the markets of the 
world, wages or cost of labor there should correspond 
with products. To a certain extent there seems, at 
first view, some such correspondence. Kentucky pays 
for her laborers $10 a month and Ohio $11 10, but these 
figures fiiil to disclose the true relative value received 
by the employer in return for these wages. 

The ten dollars which the Kentuckj^ employer pays 
for labor represents the rude and languid labor of a 
slave, too ignorant and too careless to be entrusted with 
the various implements and machinery which multiply 



SLAVEUY UNMASKED, 877 

the powers of skilled free labor and make each single 
man a Briarcus. In addition to those wages, the per- 
son employing the slave must stipulate witli his owner 
to furnish a eertain amount of clotiiitig, pay all ex- 
penses of sickness, and make no di-dutlions for lost 
time, or damages caused by tlu> careless ads of the 
slave, and for this price he obtains the unwilling labor 
of a workman, incapable of earning the wages of a 
free laborer, even if he desired to do so. 

The Ohio laborer works for himself, and knows that 
his wages are measured by his labor, and belong to 
him. Ohio accumulates wealth from that labor while 
Kentucky remains poor. The apparent clicap labor 
of Kentucky is a clclusion. It re})els free men by 
destroving the digmty of manual labor. It costs 
nearly all it -produces, and leaves a comparatively 
small products to add to the stock of reserved property. 

The aggregate of education in the two comnmnitics 
seems to indicate that for some cause the states afflicted 
with slavery neglect, or are unable, to diffuse through 
their population the same average of common-school 
education which accompanies free labor. It is not 
necessar}' for the purpose of the present inquiry to 
determine whether an imi)erfcct system of common 
schools is one of the effects of slavery, occasioned by 
the fact that the class to be educated are only the 
white population, living at considerable distances from 
each other and unable to furnish a sufficient number 
of children upon an area small enough to be traversed 
by the pupils attending school in eacli district. Even 
if" that were the true exi)lan:ition of the fact, it would 
only go to show that education was undervalued, and 
that the parent deemed it of more importance to obtain 
land upon which he could work his negroes than to 
procure schools for iiis children — a pernicious economy 
impoverishing the public mind in order to increase the 
physical wealth. 

The jmpils in public schools in Ohio are 484,153; 
in Kentucky. 71,429. In other words, Ohio, with less 



378 SLAVERY UKMASKED. 

than three times the population, furnishes a common- 
school education to more than six times the number 
educated by Kentucky. Ohio has 66,020 persons over 
twenty years of age who cannot, read or write, while 
Kentucky has 69,062. In the 66,020 are included 
9,062 aliens and -1,990 blacks, leaving 51,068 native 
whites in Ohio uneducated. The native white popu- 
lation of Kentucky untaught is 66,687 and to this mass 
of ignorance must be added the still more profound 
ignorance of the whole slave population. 

All the volumes of books in public libraries in Ken- 
tucky are 79,-166 ; in Ohio, 186,826. The newspapers 
taken in Kentucky are 84,686 ; in Ohio, 415,109. 
The number of newspapers devoted to scientific sub- 
jects taken in Kentucky are 525; in Ohio, 10,400. 

The newspaper follows the schoolmaster. If a com- 
munit}^ cannot be reached by this great modern organ 
of instruction, there is little hope of improvement, for 
they cannot be taught even that they need teaching. 
Only 525 persons in Kentucky have discovered that 
any advantage can be gained by reading a record of 
all recent improvements and inventions which men of 
thought throughout the world applying to the arts of life 
and means of production ; while 10,400 persons in Ohio 
enrich their state with the earliest use of such knowledge. 

A very similar state of things is shown in the case 
of Virginia and Pennsylvania. The pupils attending 
public schools in Virginia are 109,711 whites and 64 
tjlacks ; in Pennsylvania, 498,111 whites and 6,499 
blacks. Of the free population of Virginia, 77,005 
whites and 11,515 free blacks over 20 years of age 
cannot read or write ; while Pennsylvania has 66,928 
whites and 9,344 blacks who cannot read or write. 
This includes the entire 2.258,160 persons in Penn- 
sylvania ; but to the ignorant in Virginia, stated at 
77,005 whites and 11,515 free blacks, must be added 
almost the entire 472,528 slaves ; making in the 
aggregate a mass of ignorance formidable to the public 
safety in a very alarming degree. 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 379 

All the volumns of books in jiublic librari(\s in Vir- 
ginia are 88,4<32 ; in Pennsylvania, 3<);3,4U0. The 
number of newspapers taken in Pennsylvania is 983,- 
218 ; Virginia 89,13-i. Virginia, seems not only not to 
hi>ve learned Ujc value of a newspaper, but even todread 
itasan eiiemy" to her interests. Whether om; of lier 
Members ol' Congress residing in Aceomae District, 
expressed tlie })ublie opinion of the State or not when 
he denounced the news})aper, it remains a matter of 
record that on the floor of the House of Representa- 
tives he declared there was no newspaper in his Dis 
trict, and he thanked God for it. And now he is Gov- 
ernor pi' the State ! 

If the system of labor adopted b}-^ Virginia and 
Kentueky has failed to create a public wealth like that 
obtained by Pennsylvania and Ohio ; if it has dei)rived 
the people of common education ; if it has burdened 
them with the task of governing and supporting a 
large body of uneducated and degraded persons who 
have everything to gain and nothing to lose by sub- 
verting tlifC whole social fal)ric — no one ought to wish 
that such a system of labor should be imposed on any 
new state. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

SOUTHERN MORALITY AND RUFFIANISM — FEARFUL 
REVELATIONS. 

The following are clipped from southern papers : — 
A Family of Fiends. 

In Monroe county, Virginia, on the Greenbriar river, 
and about fourteen miles below Lewisburgh, lives a 
man named Joseph Graham. He has three or four 
grown up sons living beneath his roof, and (until the 
27th) one unmarried daughter. Miss Jane Graham, 
aged about -iO. This woman had an illegitimate daugh- 
ter, by a man who recently died in Missouri, leaving 
the sum of three thousand dollars to this chi'ld, who is 
now married to a Mr, Miller, of Nicholas county. 
Quarrels of the most violent character are represented 
to have been common in this fomily. A recent quar- 
rel had taken place, and one of the brothers sought to 
injure the character of his sister by leaving anonymous 
and defamatory letters upon the highway, and also by 
writing to Mr. Miller, of Nicholas, giving the mother 
of his wife a character as "black as hell, and as rotten 
as carrion." 

Without any knowledge of this. Miss Jane Graham, 
a few weeks ago, went to Nicholas county, to visit her 
daughter — found that she and her husband had sepa- 
rated, were living apart, and learned that the cause was 
the anonymous letter which Miller had received. Miss 
Graham, full of the violence and determination which 
characterized her, immediately returned home. A vio- 
lent quarrel ensued between her and the brother who 
wrote the letter, into which the old man and old woman 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 381 

were drawn, (lliey siding with the son,) the upshot of 
whieh was the foreibk; ejectment of Miss (Jrahani from 
the house. Slie went to the house of a brothrr-indaw 
— one Mr. Nolan, who lives hard by — who gave her 
slielter and protection. On the night of the 27th of 
July, Nolan and wife went to visit a neiglibor, leaving 
Miss Graham to take care of the children. After they 
were gone — (about nine o'clock, as the children ol' No- 
lan say, one or two of whom are competent witncs.scs) 
— Miss Graham dressed herself and went out. She 
took a bonnet belonging to her niece or to her sister. 
(Remember this.) Nolan and wife soon returned, and 
were surprised to find Miss Graham gone. At a little 
past ten o'clock, they were aroused by the cry of hre, 
caused by the burning of the barn of Mr. Jo.seph Gra- 
ham. From her well-known vindictive temper, it was 
at once suspected that she had fired the barn, and 
hence her absence was not noted as anything remark- 
able after such an act. 

The Grahams made no effort to learn anything of 
the absent member of the family — never even sug- 
gested pursuit or revenge for tlie injury done them. 
Their conduct in this respect added strength to the 
rumor that was beginning to find tongue — a rumor 
charging the family with putting Miss Graham "out 
of the way." This rumor grew so strong, that on Fri- 
day last, 4tli instant, a party of neighbors gathered to- 
gether for the purpose of searching for the body of the 
absent woman. They went to the house ot Graham 
to ask permission to search for the body on the premi- 
ses. Ilis answer was — " Go look in the ashes of the 
barn ; if her bones ain't there, they are in hell." The 
jarty went forward on their search. A few rods be- 
_ow the ruins of the barn, they found indications of a 
gcuflle — then of a running fight — then, again, of a more 
severe scuffle, in whieh a person appeared to have 
been thrown down. The ground was imprinted thickly 
with foot-marks of a human being and of a dog. From 
this place, they detected such signs as indicated the 



f< 



382 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

drawing of a human bod}^ along the grounds to a creek. 
This trail they followed to the creek, where it was lost; 
but on the other side they re-discovered it. Here dark 
stains, which appeared to be of blood, covered over 
with fresh ashes, were occasionally detected. This trail 
was followed with tolerable ease until they reached the 
bank of auother creek or brooklet beyond. Here there 
were such appearances as induced the searching party 
to think the bod}^, before dragged, had been rested for 
a moment and then shouldered. The print of a per- 
son's knees, and the toes of two booted feet were seen 
plainly imprinted in the soft earth, exactly as they 
would have been had a person got down upon his 
knees. From this point blood was occasionally de- 
tected on the leaves two or three feet from the groimd 
adding fresh conviction to the suspicion of the party 
that the body had been shouldered. Ashes were still 
occasionally seen to be scattered along the path. But 
about half a dozen rods from the path where the body 
was suj^posed to have been shouldered, all traces of the 
trail were lost. One of the party, looking in the direc- 
tion of the sun, saw an unusnal number of blue or car- 
rion flies flying about. He took it as an indication, 
and, by using a switch, succeeded in establishing a 
line of Ijuzzing flies toward a blown-down tree, below, 
on the bank of the creek. The instinct of flies was su- 
perior to that of man, and enabled them to detect signs 
that might have otherwise escaped them. Coming to 
the tree, thej found footsteps leading into the water, 
and, following down so as to get a view into the thick 
top of the tree and surrounding hedge, they discovered 
the dead body of Miss Jane Graham. 

The body was extricated from the bushes after much 
difiicult}-. It was considerably putrescent. The dress 
she wore had been taken off and lay beside her, 
having the appearance of having been washed and 
thrown up with the body without being wrung. Some 
signs of blood were still detected upon it, and it was 
much torn as by a dog. Her shoes were also taken 



SLAVERY UNMASKKI). 383 

off and throAvu np after the body, as \v;i.s also the 
bonnet before spoken of. Her stoekiii<^s were upon 
her feet. There were signs of violence alwut the neck, 
as though the body had been (b'agged by a r<jpe A 
rope about eight feet long was afterward fouud near the 
l^lacc of concealment. Some signs of her havingU'en 
worried by a dog were also upon her person, V)ut the 
blood is supposed to have come from her nose or month. 

The family of Grahams showed no signs of favoi' or 
afiectiou for the murdered, and lookecl with an eye 
that boded no good upon the searchers, whom they 
deemed meddling with a matter that was "none of 
their business." 

An inquest was held upon the body last Monday, 
7th inst. The evidence then given in on the part of 
the searching party was in accordance with the above 
recital. One witness spoke of being on the ground 
earl}'' next morning, and saw a large negro, wdio 
belongs to the family, coining from the direction where 
the bod}' was found, with a bucket on his arm ; made 
him return to search for tracks of the incendiary ; saw 
where some one (supposed to be the negro) had scat- 
tered fresh ashes along, but saw nothing then of the 
body. After hearing all the evidence, the jury came 
to the conclusion that Miss Jane Graham fired the barn ; 
that in doing so she roused the fierce dog belonging 
to the family ; that the dog followed her, and that 
some of the fiimily pursued in the same direction; that 
some of them came up with her where the first indica- 
tions of a scuffle were found, and there murdered 
her. The jury, we understand, were unanimously of 
a conviction that this was the manner of her death ; 
yet (will it be believed, in the land of chivalry, and 
in the nineteenth century?) they brought in a verdict 
on paper that slie " came to her death by some 
unknown means !" One of the jurymen, whom a 
friend of ours convci*scd with, said they dared do 
nothing more — the Grahams were sUch a desperate 
set, the whole neighborhood feared them. 



384 SLAVEKY UNMASKED. 

Oa the morning after the murder, one of the Grahams 
and the negro man before spoken of, early began to 
build a hay-stack near the house, and all tlic bustle, 
inquiry and confusion about the premises did not a 
moment delay their work until it was done. Tlie cir- 
cumstance has given rise to a suspicion that there is 
something connected therewith, and ^ determination 
has been expressed to have the hay removed. 



Horrid affair hi Maysville — Negro Burned to Death. 

We are informed that on the Kentucky Thanks- 
giving Day, a couple of young men of Maysville, 
whose family connections are described as of the 
" highest respectability," were on a drunken spree at 
the Parker Ilouse, in that place, and protracting their 
frolic until a very late hour, after all the household 
had retired to bed, attempted to arouse the bar-keeper 
to procure more liquor, and foiling in this, and succeed- 
ing in finding a yellow man, one of the waiters, asleep, 
they concluded to set fire to him ia order to awaken him/ 
With this view, they took a camphene lamp, and, 
pouring the fluid over his whiskers, ignited it, and the 
poor fallow's neck and head became instantly wrap- 
ped in an intense blaze, which continued until the fluid 
was consumed. 

The sufferings of the victim were dreadful in the 
extreme. No refinement of torture could have pro- 
duced more excruciating misery. But, strange to say, 
death did not release him from torment until after the 
lapse of two weeks. The poor creature was the slave 
of Mr. B ill, keeper of the Parker Ilouse, who says, 
as our informant tells us, that no human suffering 
could exceed that of his boy during the fortnight that 
he lived after the burning. The young men " respect- 
ably connected," whose drunkenness resulted in this 
horror, are said to allege that they burned the negro 
by accident — that when holding the lamp to his face, 



SLAVERY UX^rASKED. 385 

they managed to break it, and spill the fiery fluid upou 
him. The young men are rich. They have agreed to 
pay Mr. Ball $1,200 for the loss of his servant. Our 
informant says that no one in Maysville speaks of this 
transaction witliout a shudder of horror, but that no 
movement has been made towards a legal investiga- 
tion of the matter, and that the " high position " of 
the parties implicated will overawe any such movement. 



Fatal Affray. 

A personal rencontre occurred on the day of election 
in Liberty township, Sullivan county, between Thomas 
Harrison and Lewis Pigg, which resulted in the death 
of the latter. It appears that there Lad been somo 
previous difficult}^ between the parties, which w;us re- 
newed on the day of election ; and while Harrison 
and Pigg were quarrelling, a son of Harrison, a youth 
of some seventeen years old, knocked Pigg down with 
a rock. He recovered, and seized the boy with a 
view of chastising him for the offence, when Harrison 
struck hira across the back and head with a heavy gun 
barrel, which caused his death in two days after. 
Harrison was taken before Justices McClanahan and 
"Woods, and, after a hearing of the case, was dis- 
charged, the Justices disagreeing as to there being suf- 
ficient grounds for his committal. 

Crime in New Orleans. 

During the two weeks precceding the 5th inst., 
seven persons were tried for murder in the First Dis- 
trict Court of the city of New Orleans. Six were 
convicted — two without capital punishment, and the 
other four without any qualification of penalty, which 
consigns them to the gallows. The seventh was 
found guilty of manslaughter. One person was con- 
17 



386 SLAVEEY UNMASKED. 

victed of stabbing an old negro with intent to murder. 
He was inmiediatelj sentenced to hard labor in the 
penitentiary for twenty-one years. 

" In addition to the above, (says the Picayune,) there 
are several other capital convicts awaiting the execu- 
tion of the law , and during the winter, a large num- 
ber of felons have been sentenced to the penetentiary 
for life, or for a long term of years." 



Violence and Blood. 

The rule of blood and brutality is not yet ended. 
With the return of each morning, we hear of new 
outrages in which quiet citizens are the sufferers. 
One of the last operations of this description that has 
come to our notice, was perpetrated last night in 
Gravier street, on the person of Alderman Durrell. 
He had been in one of the coffee-houses on that street, 
in company with Dr. Dal ton and Mr. Charles Lee, 
when certain individuals who came into the coftee- 
house pointed to Alderman Durrell and said, " That's 
the d d traitor," and other words of similar im- 
port. Subsequently, they went out, and returned 
with a stranger, to whom they pointed out Mr. Durrell 

as the " d d traitor with a shawl on." Mr. Durrell 

and his friends thereupon thought it best to leave. 
After they had gone a short distance towards St. 
Charles street, a man, supposed to be the stranger to 
whom Alderman D. was pointed out, ran up behind 
him, and felled him with a blow from a slung shot, or 
some other deadly weapon of a similar character. The 
Alderman fell with his forehead against the curb-stone, 
and was rendered wholly insensible. He was imme- 
diately placed in a cab and conveyed to his residence, 
but the wielder of the slung shot was not arrested. 

Another case of violence occured at Carrolton, just 
as the 9 o'clock train of cars was about starting for the 
city. The engineer of the train, who, for some cause 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 387 

or other, had been " spotted," w:us att}\ckc<l by a gane 
of some twelve or fourteen iii(Hvi(hi:iIs, and stal)l)cd 
twice. It is expected tliat the wouiid.s will result (a- 
tall^^ It is to be liopcd that the pcrpetratoix of thi.s 
bloody outrage will be traced out and brought to 
justice. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



SLAVERY AND TllK SAHB.VTIl. 

One of the strangest sights to a descendant of the 
Puritans, on visiting the south, is the horrible desecra- 
tion of the Christian Sabbath. In some places there is 
a tolerable show of its observance, during some por- 
tions of the day at least, so far as church-going is con- 
cerned ; but this is generally in the large towns and 
cities, where there are large churches, fine music, and 
eloquent divines. Charleston, S. C, and Louisville, 
Ky., may be placed in this number. At the morning 
services quite large audiences attend, but in the after- 
noon and evening the Sabbath is most shockingly 
proflmated, especially in Charleston. It may be safe 
to say that from three to five thousand ]>ersons go (nit 
on steam ferries, and other craft, on pleasure excur- 
sions to Sullivan's Island, and other j)laccs of publio 
resort, every Sunday afternoon, during the spring and 
summer season, where there are eating and drinking' 
saloons, and other horrible places of abandonment, to 
which multitudes go and stay until the midnight hour 
closes in upon their revelry. And, in fact, throughout 
the entire south, with but few exceptions, the Sabbath, 
instead of being a day of rest, or of worship, is a holi- 
(lay — occupied mainly in pleasure-taking and .sports. 



888 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

The first sounds that fall upon the ear, not only in 
the country, but also in many of the southern cities, 
on Sabbath morning, are the firing of guns, the beat- 
ing of drums, the noise of the hunting horn, &c., &c. 
It is also a sort of holiday to many of the slaves, 
dua^ing which they do over-work, visit each other at 
their quarters, roam the fields, or what not. 

As above remarked, the people here have, on the 
Sabbath, boat parties, riding parties, hunting parties, 
fishing paities, drinking parties, gaming parties, and 
dancing, parties. But in New Orleans is to be found the 
most reckless, high-handed Sabbath desecration of any 
other place in the whole country. It is a second Paris ; 
the Sabbath is regarded here by almost every one as a 
holiday, and its return is as much desired for a day 
of pleasure, as if no other day was appropriate for such 
purposes. Military parades are seldom held on any 
other. Horse-racing, where large sums are staked on 
the most famous racers, is on the Sabbath. Thea- 
tres and circuses have the most attractive bills and 
greatest display on Sabbath evening. The sa'vage, 
heathen bull-fights occur on Sunday ; and, in fact, 
exhibitions of every kind are usually on the Sabbath. 
Against these outrages, and other evils ignored by 
them, the pulpit is as silent as if they were in accord- 
ance with the rituals of the church. And, more than 
this, you will be astonished to see, not only ^^ good 
men^'' hui professing Christians^ minglingin the crowded 
throng that keep up these rounds of moral pollution 
and dissipation. But in all these evils, the authorities 
are chargeable with more censure than all others, for 
they have the power to prevent and suppress them 
wholly. There is so much to be met with of a demor- 
alizing tendency, and the tone of moral sense is so 
clearly out-spoken, that a person is not aware of what 
surrounds him, until he pauses and contemplates the 
scene in which he is moving, and the complete pros- 
tration of everything like a controlling influence of 
public opinion. It is a truth, recognized in every 



SLAVEliY UNMASKED. 389 

civilized country, tluit good ord.-r, and even coniinon 
decency, cannot be j.ronioted or maintained, unless it 
be by the concentratetl force of the opinion of good 
men against the overt acts of the vicious. And when 
we see, as we do in this city, tlie haiUwj mm, jMiblic 
officers, the Mayor and Common Couneil, giving eonn- 
tenance and sanction to outrag.sand dcsi-t-rations, it is 
evident that the most wlioK'soinc regulations cannot 
sustain a healthy tone of moral feeling. 

As evidence of the conntenanee given to these things, 
and of the state of public feeling, the following notices 
will furnish some evidence how the Sabbath is regarded 
by the Mayor and Common Council and the rjood pv 
pie of New Orleans. These aimouncements are made 
in the city papers, and also in large, attractive hand- 
bills, posted in every part of the city : — 

" Washington Society Balls. 

" At a meeting of the subscribers, the following gen- 
tlemen were elected managers : — 

A. D. GROSSMAN, Mayor of the Dr. LI'ZEXnERr,, 

citv, " Win. KMKKSON, 

JOSHUA BALDWIN, Rocortlcr, J. STROUf), 

J. E. CALDWEI.L, .1. L. I'OULK, 

W. P. CONVERSE, W. Y. FLOWERS. 

A. B. BIEN, W. .T. EARTHME.V, 

n. G. STETSON, A. H. WAY, 

J. B. BYRN, N. C. JUDSON, 

Maj. (ion. J. L. LEWIS, J. S. WALLIS, 

Coi. J. B. WALTON, R. C. FAULKNER, 

Capt. JORDY, it. S. HATCH, 

E. A. TYLER, J. B. BEHAN. 

" At the same time, it was resolved that the s«;'rics 
should consist often balls, which will be all masked. 

"The managers will meet every Slnday! during 
the season, at one o'clock. Office hours, from nine in 
the morning until nine in the evening." 

Look at this, Christian reader. Is not here a great 
want of Christian missionaries, to convert the heathen 
in our own country? Is not this truly a heathen city? 



390 SLAVERY UNMASKED, 

The Mayor, and Recorder, and twenty-one of the lead- 
ing citizens of a professedly civilized and Chridian city 
of about two hundred thousand inhabitants, meet 
every Sabbath to make arrangements for a masked 
BALL ! In view of such examples from such men, 
what else but a perfect Sodom could be expected of 
New Orleans. 

" Orand Balloon Ascension. 

'*The seveuth ascension of Madame Emma V., of 
Bordeaux, will take place on Sunday next, between 
the hours of one and two o'clock, from the corner of 
St. Charles and Poydras streets. Madame E. Y., re- 
turns her thanks to the public for the patronage be- 
stowed upon her last Sunday, having proved to the 
citizens of New Orleans that nothing has been exagge- 
rated in her previous advertisement. A special stand 
is reserved for the ladies." 

This, the reader will bear in mind, is done by per- 
mit of license from the Mayor. 

The following is copied from a hand-bill : — 

^^ Pontchartrain Ball Room. 

" The proprietors of this well-known establishment re- 
spectfully inform their friends and the public generally, 
that it will be opened on Sunday next for the season, 
and that nothing on their part has been left undone to 
render this house one of the most agreeable in all re- 
spects. The deess and masked balls will be given 
in the following order : — 

" For white persons — Sundays, Tuesdays, Thurs- 
days and Fridays. 

"For quadroons — Mondays, "Wednesdays and Satur- 
days. 

" The orchestra is, without doubt, the best in the 
city. The Bar is furnished with the choicest Liquors. 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 301 

an(l tlie tables supplied with every delioaev that the 
maikct affords." 

Now with such attractions, who, without a grxxl 
amoint of stern religious principl.>, could n-fuse to at- 
tend' such a place, even on the Sahhatif ! ! j)rovi<lc(l 
thatliceme is given by the authorities. And y.-t the 
attiactions and entertainnioif are not all advrrtised in 
the bill. 

Eut the matter of astonislunent in these thiuf's i.s, 
tlmtinthis enlightened age, and in a civilized com- 
manity, and in this country too, j)ublic officers in a 
C'ty could be found, who would, under the .sanction 
and seal of their oflice, grant a license for a regular 
BROTHEL BALL-ROOM. The assemblage of prostftutos 
and lewd women at these rooms, is, without excejition, 
taking all the circumstances into account under which 
they meet, the most wanton, debasing and licentious 
exhibition of human passion ever witnessed. There 
are no less than- three of these ball-rooms licensed in 
the city, which are open every nigh.t and filled to over- 
flowing. The prostitutes all appear Avith masks on 
their faces, and so well concealecl that it is inijiossiblc 
to recognize them. The excessive drinking and ca- 
rousing, practiced at these places, enables the girls to 
induce men under such circumstances to accompany 
them home. Women are admitted free of charge, and 
men pay one dollar for admission. The bar and the 
eating tables are the principal sources of revenue, and 
that is immense. 

And there too, in mask, will many a confiding and 
devoted wife look for her husband, and witness the re- 
alities of all the forebodings of h<'r imagination through 
long nights of lone watching. She has found him iierc, 
and follows his footstc^ps while, arm in arm, he joins 
in the whirl of the giddy dance, with the wild and pol- 
luted being who is holding the loved an<l cherished 
one by a fascination a.s fatal and deadly as the ser- 
pent's steady gaze. 

It will be seen, by the announcement in the bill, 



392 SLAVERY UNMASKED. . 

that, three nights in the week, balls are given to quad- 
roons, or mulattoes, and on these evenings the att&id- 
ance of men is nearly double that of the white bills. 
This affords a confirmation of the old saying, " T^ere 
is no accounting for tastes ;" and also of the trutb of 
what I have previously asserted of the gentlemen of the 
south, namely, that they will seek for companions 
among the yellow and even black women, and discird 
white ladies. Notwithstanding these things, southern 
men regard the act of eating at the table with colored 
persons as a disgrace, and an outrage, and an insult tco 
great to be submitted to. And yet they will have col- 
ored girls and colored men, for their bed companions 
for body servants, for cooks ; and, in fact, everything 
they eat, drink or wear, they will see pass through 
their hands without the least shudder or repugnance. 



CHAPTER XV. 

SLAVERY AiSTD RELIGION. 

The physical cruelty of slavery, great as it is, is by 
no means the darkest feature in this foul, iniquitous, 
anti-human system, reared upon the blood, bones and 
murdered souls of men. The herding together of 
human beings (as previous!}^ remarked,) like brutes, 
and the exclusion to a great extent, of the healthful 
influences of the gospel, have induced a licentiousness 
far more lamentable than toil, stripes or auction blocks. 
But what is the amount oi religious instruction enjoyed 
by the slaves? inquire, many of my northern friends. 
To which I answer ; first, that no less than 665,563 
slaves are owned by southern divines and their churches. 

Only think of that, dear reader, six hundred and sixty 



SLAVERY UNMASKKD. 393 

five thousand five Imiulred and sixty-tlircc human, 
redeemed, immorUil beings, are o\vned"s«nil and Ixnly,' 
by these suecessors of great Paul and PKTKii, to be 
worked, bought, sold, fiogged, rented and imi)ri.s<)ned, 
&c., &c. At one thousand dollars per heatl, which 
may be a fair average price for this clerie^il .si«>ck ; 
then these followers, nay, reliijiowi tewhers of Him who 
had not where to lay his head, are worth the round 
sum of six hundred and sixty-five million, (ivc hun- 
dred and sixty-three thousand dollars, invest4.'d in 
human beings. Could ancient Roman or Grecian 
Pagan priests boast so much ? No, never. 

Of what avail are the prayers, sermons, public 
teaching and lofty pretensions to piety, of a man who 
can sell his brother into perpetual bondage? If a 
man " love not his brother whom he hath seen, how can 
he love God whom he hath not seen ?" If he can coolly 
and deliberately disregard the claims of his brother, 
why should he regard those of his God? In spite 
however, of the obvious incongruity of slavery with 
the instruction of the slaves, either mentally or morally, 
the impressionhas obtained north, through apologists 
for the institution that the slaves are the objects of a 
religious culture, which is preparing them, both for 
freedom in this world, and hap})iness in the next. 

It is true, that in some portions of the south, the 
slaves are allowed a little oral instruction, a few 
catechetical lectures, but it is only an hour or two each 
week, in the day time, and strictly confined to those 
" prominent portions of scripture which show the 
duties of servants and the rights of masters r The 
truth is, slaveholders generally are unwilling that 
Christianity should be taught to their slaves, any fur- 
ther than they can make a tool of it to serve their own 
purposes; and, as it happens to be a two-edge<l tool, 
they are mostly afraid to meddle with it at all. They 
complain that it has too little respect of persons to 
suit their " peculiar" state of society. 

" Is it wise," remarked one of their divines to me, 
17* 



894 SLA. VERY UNMASKED. 

on this subject, " on any occasion, to act as though the 
population of the south were homogeneous ? If our 
institutions," continued he, " require that a portion of 
the people of the state should be treated in every 2^lace 
and at all times as a subordinate caste, by what 
authority, human or divine, does the citizen violate 
that obligation. Need I say the experience of the 
world attests, that the battle of the cross can be no 
where successfully waged, unless the laws of the land 
and the established usages of society are faithfully cher- 
ished and supportedJ^ Now I cannot suppose that that 
learned divine would have hazarded this assertion, if 
the "experience" of southern Christianity, as cherishing 
and supporting the " usages of society" there, had no't 
fully borne him out in it. It is a mockery to call the 
opportunities for instruction, religious or literary, that 
have been enjoyed, and are now by southern slaves, 
privileges ! Privileges, forsooth, just as it is for a dog 
to lick the crumbs beneath a table, where for ev^y 
infinitesimal fragment, he is nearly sure to get a tre- 
mendous kick. 

In view of what we have seen, heard and passed 
through in the slave states, we must confess that our 
very soul is sick of the everlasting hyjjocrisy and 
meanness of the whole country, and are prepared to 
maintain, that, so far as the slaves have any true 
religion, it is not in consequence of instruction, but in 
spite of it. No instruction, I repeat, of any sort has 
been granted them, but such as is supposed might be 
made subservient to slavery, for there is a sort of slave- 
piety, which has its price in the market. In a sale, 
for instance, for a master to be able to say this is a 
pious boy, or for an auctioneer, that is a perfectly 
peaceable, pious nigger, will in many instances add dol- 
lars to the trade. And these dealers in human beings 
fully understand the import of the term pjiety Mdien 
thus used viz : — that the poor, ignorant, down-trodden 
heathen has been indoctrinated into the belief that 
God from all eternity decreed that he should, under the 



SLAVERY UNM.\SKED. 395 

most severe and eternal penalties, croucli clown to, and 
obey his master in all things, and that his only roa<l 
to heaven is in strict ol>edience to the commands of ids 
master. Hence a sort of instnu-tion hjus bet-n insti- 
tuted called religious teacliing, for which the masters 
pay a pretty good sum annually to tlK'se pious slain:- 
lioldlnrj missionaries. That some of the slaves arc 
truly and sincerely pious, th(Te can be no doubt ; but 
the great mass of them have a superficial rrligion, a 
false religion, or no religion at all. That this is .so, the 
southerners themselves are prepared to admit. In 
proof of the ignorant, debased, and low sunken con- 
dition of these poor, stupid, heaOien slava, who arc 
made and kept so by the politico-rcligioiLs institutions 
of the south, I will insert a short extract from a 
report on this subject, drawn up by one of the eccles- 
iastical bodies here, several of which I attcmh^d while 
south. In which report they unfortunatc-ly for t-liem- 
selves, or for the j)ec id far institudon, admitted the fact, 
or in effect, confessed that southern Christianity has sup- 
ported slavery to the almost total neglect of the souls 
of the slaves. 

The following is the hideous picture which they 
draw of the moral influence of slavery. 

" The influence of the negroes upon the moral and 
religious interests of the whites, is destructive in the 
extreme. We cannot go into special detail. It is 
unnecessary. We make our appeal to universal expe- 
rience. We are chained to a putrid carcass I It sickens 
and destroys us. We have a millstone hanging about 
the neck of our society, to sink us deep in the sea of 
vice. Our children are corrupting from their infancy, 
nor can we prevent it. Many an anxious parent, 
like the missionaries in foreign lands, wishes his chil- 
dren could be brought beyond the reach of the corrup- 
ting influence of the depraved Jieathen. Nor is thi.s 
influence confined to mere childhood. If that were 
all, it would be tremendous. But it follows into 
youth, into manhood, and into old age. And when 



396 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

we come directly into contact with their depravity in 
the management of them, then come temptations, and 
provocations, and trials that unsearchable grace only 
can enable us to endure. In all our intercourse with 
them, we are undergoing a process of intellectual and 
moral deterioration; and it requires almost super- 
human efforts to maintain a high standing, either for 
intelligence or piety." 

There is testimony from those who ought to know, 
and who do know whereof they report, testimony we 
trust the reader will feel bound to credit, though he 
discard that of northern tourists. As to the slave- 
holding Christians, professors, or what ever else they 
may be termed, I seldom or never found one, that I 
thought was a deeply devoted Christian at heart. In 
spite of their high pretentions to a consistent Bible 
piety, a haughty, waspish, acrimonious spirit could be 
detected, underlying all their piety. And how can it 
be otherwise, since they stoutly deny, if not wholly, 
yet in part, the fundamental claims of the law and of 
the gospel ? which in substance is to love God with 
all the soul, mind, &c., and our neighbor as ourself. 
Short of this, men may make high pretentions, long 
prayers, and many proselytes. Short of this, they 
may employ with wonderful success a thousand so- 
called, soul-saving expedients. But short of this 
they cannot he Gkristians. Short of this, what would 
they do in that world of eternal harmony, where every 
thing finds and keeps its proper place ? The devourers 
of widows' houses here, miist receive damnation hereafter. 
Alas! what then must become of those who make 
WIDOWS, and then devour them and their children 
in the midst of the Christian church? What too, 
must become of their apologists, however ingenious 
and grave they may be ? Those who have a system 
of soul saving, which inspires men with the hope of 
Heaven, while they refuse heartily to own every human 
creature as their brother ? A system of piety, which 
leaves men below the level of humanity! Is this 



SLAVERY UN'MASKKU. 397 

Christianity? And arc thi>y Christians whose h carta 
are thus too hard and narrow t:) athiiit tlic common 
sentiments of humanity ! Alas, for such j.irty, IxUh 
unhuman and inhuman, what misdiicf lias it not done 
wherever it has been countenanced in llic church of 
God ! It is true, as I have taken occasion elwwhere 
in the course of this work to remark, that the slaves 
in the cities are allowed to attcntl church with the 
whites ; but they must occupy the niggers' scat which 
is tlie gallery. And after listening to a sermon an hour 
long addressed to the masters, have a few n-marka 
addressed to them, the whole of wliich I looked uj)on 
as little less than a downright insult to human nature. 
"The type of morality, in any country, is .seldom 
much higlier in the church than it is in respectable 
society out of it. In no civilized countries do m<Mi of 
good standing in society justify themselves in any 
practices which are not countenanced by professors of 
religion." 

This was true in the most corru])t days of the 
Romish church. It is no less true now. It \^";us there- 
fore no mere rhetorical flourisli, but the utterance of a 
great truth, founded on the nature of man, and based 
on the power of the Christian faith, wdien Rev, Albert 
Barnes declared that slavery could not live an hour out 
of the church, if it were not sustained within it. 
With this principle in view, we may know, without 
visiting the south, how the Christian churclics have 
been corrupted. We need not hope to find a higlier 
standard of morality within, than without. If men of 
high social position out of the church own slaves, so 
will church members. And so is the fact. Is it a 
common })ractice in the south, among respectable men, 
to visit theatres and horse-races on the Sabbath, to 
have colored concubines — to drink intoxicating litjuors 
to excess — to play cards, and gamble — to make the 
Sabbath a day of sport and pleasure .socking? These 
practices obtain as well in the churches, as out of them, 
in some instances. And just as a slave holder who is 



398 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

known to own, and buy, and sell his own children as 
slaves, suffers nothing at all in his reputation on that 
account, so if such a slaveholder belongs to the church, 
these facts do not affect his standing there. The thing 
is so common throughout the south, among men calling 
themselves Christians, as well as others, that it hardly 
attracts attention. 



CHAPTEE XVI. 

SPIRIT OF SLAVERY — ITS INFLUENCE UPON THE 
SLAVE-HOLDER. 

The influence which the institutions of a country 
and the character of the people mutually exert on 
each other, operating reciprocally as cause and effect, 
is always a subject of curious and interesting inquiry. 
The character of the people is the cause of the estab- 
lishment and continuance of the institutions, and is in 
return formed, modified, and rendered permanent by 
them. So peculiar an institution as slavery, cannot be 
without great influence of some kind or other, upon 
the character of those among whom it exists. Slaverv 
by one has very properly been stated to consist in, a 
protracted state of war. All its results are sufficient- 
ly conformable to such an origin. Soldiers possess a 
free and self-confident air, and when among friends 
and not irritated or opposed, they exhibit a frank, good 
humor, an easy, companionable disposition, which 
renders their society agreeable, and causes their com- 
pany to be generally courted. Their military duties 
often leave them an abundance of leisure ; for long 
intervals, they often have nothing to do but to seek 
amusement, and they give a warm and hearty welcome 



SLAVERY INMASKKD. 899 

to all who are disposed to join and aid them in that 
pursuit. Precisely the same tyjie of manners prrvaila 
among the slave-holdei-s of the .-iouth. Thonj^h a largo 
portion of that ehiss is destitute of education, and of 
any real refinement, yet ahnost eyery mcmlK-r of it 
has more or less, a certain putrieiun hcarinjL', a con- 
sciousness of his own superiority which gives him an 
air of manliness and dignity, but which it must be 
confessed, degenerates too often into rudeness and 
braggadocio. 

The wealthier and better educated, ])a>wing almost 
all of their time in a round of social jileasures, have 
attained to a considerable jierfection in the art of 
pleasing; and those who visit the southern sUites for 
the first time, are almost invariably captivated by the 
politeness, the hospitality, and pleasing attentions, of 
these ap})arently noble people. But, three successive 
trips through most of the southern states, and nearly 
three years residence in their midst, convinced the 
writer that manners however pleasing, are far from 
being any certain index of character, they often being 
carried to a high jiitch of refinement, in ca.ses where 
all the virtues whieli they seem to in<lieate, are lamen- 
tably deficient. The soldier, nursed in blood and 
robbery, however mildly and gently he conducts him- 
self, we regard at best only a tame tiger, not rashl}* to 
be trusted. His passions are violent and unmanaga- 
ble, accustomed to indulgence, and imj)atient of con- 
trol, It is the same with the slave-master. Habitu- 
ated to play the tyrant at home, unshackled regent and 
despotic lord upon his o\vn plantation, where his wishes, 
his slightest whim is law, the love of domineering pos- 
sesses all his heart. The intercourse of society has 
taught him the policy and the advantiiges of mutual 
concession in little things, and the trifling points of 
ordinary politeness he yields with a ready willingness 
of a well bred man. Beyond this he is not to be 
trusted. 

Alarm his prejudices, his self-love, his jealousy, his 



400 SLAVERY UNMASKED, 

avarice, his ambition ; cross his path in any shape 
whatever ; assume the character of a rival or a censor; 
though on a pUxntation, — at a dining table, or in the 
senate hall of the nation, look out for canings, 
poniards, and pistols. From a laughing, good natured 
companion, he is changed at once, into a fierce, raging 
tiger, nay, into a devil outright, one that you would 
suppose never was, and never could be tamed. He 
rages, raves, and boils over, almost bursting with pas- 
sion; he answers your arguments with invectives in- 
stead of reason, he replies with insults, if not with 
murder, or an attempt at it. As proof in point, look 
at the recent disgraceful affair at Washington, in the 
conduct of that cowardly southern villain by the name 
of Brooks, in mauling the Hon. Mr. Sumner almost 
to death with a cane. In said Brooks we have a 
pretty fair representative of the whole slave-holding fra- 
ternity. The fear of the law does not restrain a slave- 
holder. The fact is, in the southern states, a gentleman 
is never hung. The most cold blooded and deliberate 
murderers, in the upper classes of society, escape with 
a fine or a short imprisonment. The gallows is re- 
served for abolitionists, negro-stealers, and poor white 
folks. 

They almost universally carry arms ; and are ready 
at any moment for a deadly conflict, but the pistols, 
knives and dirks, their favorite weapons, are of a kind 
more fit for foot-pads and assassins, than for well-inten- 
tioned citizens. In several of the states it has been 
attempted to suppress by penal enactments, this bar- 
barous practice of carrying deadly weapons, These 
laws are never enforced, and it is scarcely possible they 
should be. To carry arms in the state of things ex- 
isting at the south, is deemed prudent and seems ab- 
solutely necessary. If his slaves resist, how else shall 
the master maintain his authority ? Those who have 
been subdued by force, must be kept under by force, 
and if the armed conquerors, in a moment of rage, 
sometimes turn their weapons against each other, that 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 401 

is wliat is \\a\)h to ]i:ij)piMi ain(>ii<r all oollcctions of 
armed men. What whikIit if that iuhuinaii and 
blood-thirsty spirit, whieh the tyrannieal rule ihry ex- 
ercise, keeps more or less alive in the 1»()s<.im <>f all 
slave-ma.sters, often burst out in full fury in thrir (luar- 
rels with each other? The familiarity with which, 
under the influence of excited i)a.ssion, they talk of 
murder, is only to be equalled by the .savage ferocity 
with which, under the same influence, they often com- 
mit it. The atrocity of southern duels has long been 
notorious, — but what duel can be compared with tho.sc 
savage, brutal " rencontres " of which the southern 
papers are so frequently, and so fully mad(^ up, — ac- 
counts which among the people of those states .seem to 
carry with them all the interest of a l)ull- fight or a 
cock-fight, — in which two men or more, armed to the 
teeth, meet in the streets, at a court house or a tiivern, 
shoot at each other witli pistol.s, then draw their knive.s, 
close and roll upon the ground, covered with dust and 
blood, struggling and stabbing till death, wounds, or 
the submission of one of the parties jiut an end to the 
contest ? These scenes, Avhich if they take place at 
the north at all, appear but once an age, and then only 
among the lowest and most depraved of the emigrant 
population, (except indeed when a Dr. Gkah.vm, or 
some other semi-barbarian southerner, gives us an oc- 
casional bloody demonstration of their jMstol or bowie- 
knife proclivities,) are of frequent and almost daily 
occurrence at the south, among tho.se who consider 
themselves the most respectable people. 

Improvidexce is univer.sally allowed to 1)e a vicx? 
of the most dangerous character. Imjirovidence is an 
e\'il which prevails very generally throughout the 
slave-holding states. The careless, headlong raj)iditv 
with which a planter spends his money, is proverbial. 
This childish profusion has even been rai.sed among 
them to the rank of a virtue; while economy is de- 
cried and stigmatized as mean and little. This sort of 
profusion may dazzle and delight the weak-minded 



402 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

and tlie tliouglitless. It is very clear however that it 
seldom implies any of that benevolence or magnanimity 
which it has been supposed to indicate. It generally 
originates in the desire to excel, to gratify some whim 
of the moment, or what is oftener the case, in the de- 
sire to become admired as a person of wealth and lib- 
erality. It is one way of gratifying the universal 
desire of social superiority. A planter will spend 
some hundreds of dollars upon a single entertainment, 
and the next morning will refuse an extra pair of 
shoes to a lame old negro, who has labored for him 
all his life. Ask one of these spendthrifts to do an 
act, not of benevolence merely, but of common j ustice, 
by setting a slave at liberty, and he will laugh you in 
the face. I have both seen and heard of many acts 
of profusion in the south, but few or none of genero- 
sity. It is not there that institutions are endowed for 
purposes of public charity. No associations exist 
there, or next to none, for charitable purposes. When 
a subscription is to be raised for some object of public 
benevolence, the contribution of our southern planters 
is extremely scanty. They lavish thousands on their 
own pleasures, and the companions of these pleasures; 
they bestow little or nothing upon the sufferings of 
strangers. Indeed it would be absurd to expect it. 
They who are not moved by the scenes of poverty, 
degradation and distress, which their own plantations 
every day present, how can they be affected by the 
comparatively little miseries of which the}" only hear 
or which they but casually see? The quantity of 
money that can be got is a limited sum ; the quantity 
that can be spent is indefinite. Take the southern 
states throughout, and it is probable that seven slave- 
masters out of ten live beyond their income. The 
labor, the fruits of which would have sufficed to make 
fifty flimilies comfortable and happy, being engrossed, 
with the exception of the barest subsistence to the 
laborers, by a single family, does not suffice to make 
that single family happy or even comfortable. Im- 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 103 

providence subjects to all the miseries of actual pov- 
erty. Men in the possession of large estates are tor- 
mented all their lives by sherilVs and duns, and at 
their death, leave large families brought up in all the 
luxury of wealth, aiul the hel{)lessness of iiabitual in- 
dolence, penniless and unprovided for, a prey to the 
bitterest miseries of want. 

Idleness is another evil growing out of the system 
of slavery, — it is one of no ordinary magnitude. An 
idle person is the devil's workshop, is an old .say- 
ing containing more truth than i)()etry. Any one 
wishing to lind a living, startling illustration of this 
remark, let him go south, and he will soon be .satisfud. 
Almost all the slave-holders have no occupation ex- 
cept to amuse themselves. Born and bred to this oc- 
cupation, they become incai)ablc of any other. One 
would suppose that having so much leisure, they 
might turn their attention to the study of agriculture 
and art, upon which so wholl}^ depends not their ])ri- 
vate income.only, but the public wealth of the com- 
munities to which they belong. But no, — they have 
no taste for such pursuits, and they leave the managq- 
ment of their plantations entirely to their overseers. 
This neglect however ought not to be wholly ascribed 
to their disinclination for regular and usel'ul pursuite. 
If they go much on their plantations, so many cruel 
sights come under their view, they are so harrassed by 
petitions and complaints, they find themselves .so op- 
pressed by the cares of authority, that they hasten to 
relieve themselves from the burden, and to shift it to 
the shoulders of some case-hardened manager. All 
despotisms are alike. What happens to an oriental 
sultan, happens to a despotic slave-master. 

The weight of the empire presses too heavily upon 
their effeminate an<I feeble necks. Both alike sjhmkI 
in idle luxury all that can be sponged from the forced 
labor of their subjects, both alike transfer the task of 
spunging to a vizier, or an overseer. 

Thus freed from all cares of business, it might bo 



40-4 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

imagined that the wealth}^ slave-masters of the south 
would bestow their time and thoughts upon the pur- 
suit of knowledge, the cultivation of literature and 
the fine arts. We might suppose that thej would 
pusli scientific investigations to their utmost limits, as- 
tonish the world with new discoveries in morals and 
in plijsics, or delight it with all the graces of poetry, 
music, architecture, &c., &c. 

But in these expectations we are totally disappointed. 
All these things, with a great deal more must be done 
for them. Books are a rare commodity at the south, 
literature is uncommon and science still more so. Li- 
braries, whether public or, private, are seldom to 
be met with. A few classics thumbed over at school, 
a few novels old or new, a sprinkling of political 
pamphlets, and some favorite newspaper, form the 
whole circuit of letters and learning, ordinarily trod- 
den by the most studious of the planters. The educa- 
tion of the females, even among the wealthiest classes, 
is still more superficial. In this connection, it ought 
to be remembered, that a very considerable portion of 
the privileged class are totally destitute even of the 
rudiments of learning. To read is an accomplishment 
they have never acquired. Of course it is not to be 
expected that persons so unfortunately circumstanced, 
can find employment for their leisure in literary pur- 
suits. Thus situated, with no resources for the occu- 
pation of their time, the privileged class are constantly 
beset by a weariness of soul, perhaps the most dis- 
tressing disorder to which men are subject. " Thank 
God I am not a negro !" said a planter one day, as he 
sat beneath the shade of his porch, and watched his 
slaves in a neighboring field, at work beneath a burn- 
ing sun. Yet it maj^ well be doubted whether the most 
miserable of those slaves was half as miserable as 
their unfortunate master, who lived in a lonely part 
of the country, and suffered from a forced idleness and 
solitude, the most poignant distresses. 

It is a common remark among the planters that the 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 405 

slaves arc happier tliaii tlifir iiuustcrs. Many, I atn 
aware will reject this idea with iii(li«,niatioii, as a mere 
falsehood, invented to gloss over tin- ahoniinaticjns of 
tyranu}'. No doubt the observation is ^cnerallv urged 
with that intent. But the trulii of a fact dors" not de- 
pend U})on the use intended to he made of it, by lho.sc 
who assert it. The more closely a man mediuilea 
upon the state of things at the soutli, the more inclined 
he will be to admit tiic truth of the above remark 
touching the comparative happiness of the nuusters 
and the slaves. Instead however, of .s;iving that the 
masters and the slaves are equally happy, the idea 
might be more clearly and distinctly ex])rcssed by 
sa3'ing, that both master and slave are eipuilly mi.sera- 
ble. Slavery is an invention for dividing the g<Kjd 
and ills of life into two se})arate parcels, so as to 
bestow all the ills upon the slaves, and all tlie good 
upon the mastei^s. So far as regards the slaves, this 
attempt is successful enough. The miseries of life 
are concentrated upon their heads in a terrible 
mass. But as respects the ma-sters, the experiment 
fails entirel3^ The coveted good, like manna which 
the too greedy Israelites sought wrongfully to appro- 
priate, corrupts, putrefies, changes its nature, and turns 
into evil. Occupations too long continued is distruc- 
tive to happiness, but idleness is not less so; and it 
may well be doubted whether the compulsive labor of 
the slaves is any more co})ious a source of mi.sery 
then the forced idleness of tlie masters. 

I say forced idleness, for in deiiriving thciTLselves of 
the motives to labor and exeition, they force them- 
selves to be idle. To obtain some relief from the 
weariness, that constantly besets them, the jilant<'rs 
seek to divert and occupy their thoughts by swial in- 
tercourse. This is the origin of that Jnwipitulity for 
which the people of the south are so famous, and which 
is often brouglit forward as u virtue ami)le enough to 
cover the acknowledged multitude of th.;ir sins. 
Hospitality, it is true, bears a certain relation to 



406 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

benevolence; but it is to benevolence no more tban is 
the flounce to the garment. The attempt to conceal 
the nakedness of the land by such a rag, is as con- 
temptible as it is futile. In truth, the visitors who 
arrive at a plantation, confc>r a real benefit upon the 
lord of it. They give him occupation. The efforts 
necessary to entertain, are not less agreeable to him 
who makes them, than to those for whom they are 
made. Kthe visitor be a total stranger, so much the 
better. There is the zest of .novelty added to the 
excitement of occupation. If he come from a distant 
part of the country, better yet. He will probably be 
able to suggest a great many new and interesting ideas, 
likely to give an agreeable motion to the stagnant soul 
of his host. Hospitality has ever been a virtue 
abundantly practised among all idle and indolent 
races. The Indian tribes of America, are all celebrated 
for its exercise. The plundering Arabs of the desert 
look upon it as a religious duty — for conscience and 
inclination are always apt to pull together. 

But, the exercise of this virtue among the people of 
the south, becomes the occasion of several practices of 
the most dangerous and deleterious kind. It is not • 
the cause of those practices, but only the occasion for 
them. In itself, it is essentially good, and displays 
the character of the slaveholder in the most amiable 
light it ever assumes. 

Hospitality is benevolence on a small scale, and 
how can benevolence on any other scale be expected, 
from men whose total existence is a continued viola- 
tion of its clearest and most urgent commands? 

The institution of slavery deprives a large portion 
of the people of their natural occupations. Gambling is 
the employment, which under similar circumstances, 
has ever presented itself to men, as a means of killing 
time. In order that this employment may be indulged 
in, whenever the want of it is felt, it is necessary that 
a peculiar class should exist, as it were the priesthood 
of the gaming table, always ready at all times, to 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 407 

gamble with all comers. These are the professional 
gamblers, '^i'hey praetiee gaming not for amnsement, 
but as a livelihood. If they left everything to ehaucc 
and strictly observed the laws of play, it would be 
impossible for them to live by their business; in the 
long run, they would be certain to loose as much as 
they won, and so could have nothing left whereupon 
to live. Ilencc they, arc compelled to play Jhlse. 
They must cheat^ or starve. They are not mere gam- 
blers, but swindlers. This explains the odium attached 
to their occupation. Merely to gamble is no imj)Uta- 
tion upon any body's character in the southern states, 
or at most it is an imputation of which nobody is 
ashamed. To be a gambler by profession, however, 
is infamous, because it is well understood, that every 
professional gambler is a cheat. But though the pro- 
fession is infamous, still it is crowdt*d. Its members 
throng the steamboats, the hotels, the cities, and 
villages of the south, and among them may be found, 
the most gentlemanly, agreeable, insinuating, talented, 
well informed men of the whole population, constantly' 
on the watch, and always laboring to attract, to allure, 
to please; many of them attain a peculiar polish and 
elegance of manners. New recruits are always crowd- 
ing in. The planter who has ruined himself by im- 
providence, dissipation or losses at the gaming table, 
the young disappointed heir bred up in indolence 
and luxury, by a father who dies insolvent ; these 

Sersons find scarcely any other way of gaining their 
ally bread, except to adopt gambling as a profession. 
There is no other business for which they are qualified 
— there is no other art, which they understand. It 
seems hard to hold these individuals strictly respon- 
sible for the evil they do. You cannot expect them 
to starve. This would not be natural. They are the 
victims of a social system intolerably bad. The pro- 
fessional gamblers are above described, such as tliej 
are, when at the head of their profession, and in the 
hey-day of success. In general, they soon begin to go 



408 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

down hill. Proverbially improvident, they are abun- 
dantly supplied with money, or wholly without it. 
The latter presently comes to be their habitual condi- 
tion. Their fate very nearly resembles that of prosti- 
tutes in a great city. Drunkenness relieves their dis- 
tresses for the time being, but by destroying their 
health and their intellect, soon precipitates them into 
lower depths of misery. They become at last a burden 
*\ipon their relatives and friends; find in an early death 
a refuge from despair; or are precipitated into. crimes 
which carry them to the penitentiary or the gallows. 
The vice of gambling is not confined to the superior 
portion of the higher caste. It pervades the lower 
class also. There are blacklegs and gambling houses 
adapted to the taste and manners of all. 

To the business of gambling, the professional gam- 
blers from time to time, add several other occupations. 
They become passers of counterfeit money, horse- 
thieves, and negro-stealers. Nothing but the extreme 
poverty of the country, prevents them from organizing 
an extensive system of plunder. Horses and slaves are 
almost the only thing capable of transportation, which 
can be stolen. In general, to pick the pockets of the 
planters by the help of a fxro-table or a pack of cards, 
is not only safe, but a surer operation than to attempt 
it in any other way. 

Party politics, state and national, afford the only 
topic, to any extent of an intellectual character, in 
which any considerable number of the southern popu- 
lation, take any deep interest, or which serves to any 
considerable extent, to dispel the fog of wearisome 
idleness, by which they are constantly threatened to 
be enveloped. Politics at the south, are rather specu- 
lative than practical. Every slave-holding community 
is essentially conservative, and opposed to all change. 
The southern politicians, puzzle and lose themselves 
in vain attempts to reconcile the metaphysical system 
of liberty acknowledged by their own state constitu- 
tions, with the actual system of despotism amid which 



c 



SIAVEUV UNMASKKF). 400 

thoy live. Their ahlt^st roiusoiicrs can boast no ii»ure 
than to bo snbtU^ lo;^ician.s, and inj^cnioiis Hf)i)hi»t*», 
backed up with bowic-knivos, and club-canus, Tor the 
want of more convincing argum.-nu Stutt'sinanship 
is a thing they liave about as much contH^ption «>f as 
their phmtation slaves liavc of navigation. Yet the 
study of politics, barren, empty and profilloH-i as 
southern politics are, has saved many of the finost 
minds at the south from total stagnation, and alTords 
to groat numb.M-s a stimulant altogether more harm- 
less than gambling and strong drink. Great numb.-rs 
of southern planters are as great adepts in political 
mota[)hysics, as the Scotch pea.santry are or were, in 
Calvinistic divinity. Grant their prcmi8<?s, — which 
for the most part are utterly false, — and they rejison 
like a book. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

NORTHERN TOURISTS VS. SLAVERY APOLOGISTS. 

The knowledge that people of the free states, have 
of slavery and its practical working, is mainly through 
northern m3n who have traveled in the slave statca 
Of these there are three classes, viz: invalids, who 
seek the southern climate for health-^pleasure .«cekcre 
who go for recreation — and business men, peddlera, 
agents, collectors, artists, &c., &e., who go to mako 
money. 

We will now look for a moment, at thr> chance thaso 
men have of making observations, and also the 8tand- 
points from which their observations are m id •. Thosn 
bilonging to the first class mentioned above, from the 
condition of their health, arc, to a great extent, rendered 
18 



410 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

iucouipetent to make either extensive observations or 
correct ones, since they are unable to go out on the 
plantations — through the rice and cotton fields — to the 
negro quarters, &c., &c. The pale, emaciated counte- 
nance, feeble tread and hollow cough of the poor con- 
sumptive, dyspeptic, or otherwise wretchedly affected 
invalid, excites from his very appearance, the sym- 
pathies of all. Hence, both masters and slaves would 
proffer them the most kindly and hospitable attentions. 
Underlaying however, these sympathies with which 
nature and good breeding usually respond to such 
conditions, may be found a deeper, broader motive for 
such treatment, or hospitality as it is termed by some. 

These northern invalids are usuall}^ intelligent men, 
and some of them wealth}^, hence, not only able to pay 
their way, besides giving a little to the poor, half-starved 
slaves, as I have often seen them do ; but, also, on 
arriving north, to make a good plea for the dark insti- 
tution hj way of extolling the hospitality of the masters, 
therefore they can well afford these sympathies, since 
they make so good returns, such occasions, also, bring 
them in contact with better cultivated minds than 
their own, whereby they are enabled to add a little to 
the stock of their general information. 

The most revolting scenes of slavery, are seldom, or 
'never witnessed by this class, who, borne down by the 
weight of their own infirmities, have neither the heart, 
nor the chance to behold the sufferings of the slaves. 

I was acquainted with a man of this class, a Mr. , 

of western Nciy York, who spent some three winters 
south, for his health. On his return he brought a very 
favorable report of the south and its institutions. He 
saw none of those horrible scenes, the recital of which 
make ones blood run cold — he believed them false — 
that the southerners had been belied, and that they 
were a noble, hospitable people. 

Passing through the place of his residence, soon after 
my last southern tour, an old friend remarked to me that 
his neighbor Mr. , had also been south, and had 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. \ \ \ 

just returned, Avell }ilo;usod with tlic s<-)uth(Tnors. At 
least, he had seen and reported quite dillVTeiilly from 
myself. So I stepped over to his house one afkTn<H)n, 
to gather from himself in person, a history of hi.'* 
southern tour. I there learn.-d from his o\viriip.s thai 
he had searcely been throu<,di a sin^de plantation— had 
seen no slave auctions — ne>rro whippings, nor st-;irer|y 
anything which go to make up h/c in the s<niUi. He t«Hjk 
the steam packet at New York for Savannah, conse- 
quently could sec nothing of the south, until h<' landed 
at Savannah, from thence he took the cars for a place, 
some forty miles back in the country, and spent some 
six months at the same place, except on one oi'casioii, 
when he went two miles off to a religious merlin". 
Then on his r<'turn, he went to Savannah, took sU-ain 
packet in a few hours for New York without .seeing 
so much of the south, or of southern territory, as is 
contained in a single county in the state of New York. 

Now a man might, I will venture to say, go south 
forty successive years, and spend eight months per 

year as Mr. did, being an invalid and housed up 

as he was, and as hundreds of others, similarly eircMim- 
stanced, and who have made similar report.^, are, and 
have been, and know nothing about southern slavery 
as it is, and was, and is trying everlastingly to be. 

Mr. , is an honest man, told all that he saw, and 

that was nothing at all, but the duplicity and rotten- 
ness of slaveholders, in the shape of a little .soft, .soap 
to wash down the monster and make the poor invalid 
think they were a fine set of fcllow.s. 

The next class are pleasure seekers, people who 
travel for pastime, to enjoy themselvc, and .sec the 
country. These persons on arriving south, enter into 
such associations, pretty generallj' so at least, a.s to 
render it quite impossible for them to see anything but 
the gloss and covering of the bloody inslitulion. The 
slaveholders u.sc their endevours to conciliate these 
men, to enlist them in their dark and bloody ranks, 
nor do they often fail ; a few gratuitou.s attentions, by 



412 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

way of carriage rides over the plantations, to the 
theatres, and elsewhere always attended by the master, 
or overseer, and three or four orderly, well dressed ser- 
vants, and they are bought. A few of this class it is 
true place a higher premium on themselves, while now 
and then may be found one whom the whole south can- 
not buy. But in the third class, may be found persons 
best prepared to give a correct history of life in the 
south, or slavery as it is, unless they have been bribed 
by the high priests of slavery. Their business leads 
them all over the country among all classes of people, 
their chance in short, is such as to give them a perfect 
knowledge of the system, working, and influence of 
slavery upon all classes. Yet many of this class, I 
exceedingly regret, may be found whose treason against 
liberty should be severely rebuked. Many of these 
turn apologists for the institution, for a less sum than 
Esau sold his birth right : while others like Benedict 
Arnold must be well paid for their treasonable services. 
Of the latter the writer is personally acquainted with 
an individual who stands out in rather bold relief, the 
type of a class of apologists, whose number entitles 
them to the appellation of legion. 

The Rev. Mr. , a native of one of the free states, 

was rather an eccentric preacher, and most powerful 
lecturer on the great moral subjects of the day ; 
specially on anti-slavery, with whom scarcely any 
terras in the English language were suflliciently strong 
to convey his bitter invectives against the jjcculiar 
institution. Soon after the passage of the infamous 
Fugitive Slave law, being called upon by his friends to 
deliver a speech on the occasion, he consented, and 
among other hard sayings, he remarked, that Millard 
Fillmore for not vetoing said bill, ought to be hung 
up on a gallows as high as Haman was — that the 
southerners were a pack of pirates — cut throats — 
thieves, &c., &c., &c. Soon after the Rev. gentleman 
had business calHng him south; scarcely had he 
crossed Mason and Dixon's line, and got nicely Intro- 



SLAVERY UNMMASKKD. 11". 

duced to the southerners, than this al)<)hti'>n lion wjtf 
mysteriously changed into a liarmlcss f, Imnb. 

On returning nortli his shive-iiolding l .. \ isliad 
a giant representative in the person of otir rhnrtd 
friend, who stoutly apologised for them anrl tlu'ir 
hhody institutions. Said lie "the southerm'rs and 
southern institutions are falsified at the north — they 
are a noble, giMicrous people, more liberal than nortlu-ni 
men, and the ncgrois are better olf there than hen-, 
&c., &c." But murder will out, the secret of his sud- 
den conversion, soon became ([uite apparent. KlaU'<l 
with the .spoil, he mu.st reheartc to .'^onie near frieiida 
the story of his success. 

Passing through his neighborhood shortly afti'r my 
return, I heard that he boasted of .'<even hundred 
dollars as the fruits of his four months .sojourn among 
the slave-holders. Indeed, he reiiiarke<l t«) the writer 
personally the following, " Why the slave-holders," 
said he, "are the finest, the most lilx-ral people I ever 
saw, don't you thing that one of them pulled out a 
fifty dollar bill and gave me on the spot. Yes, they 
knew right well what they were about, the material 
they were operating upon, the tool of an apologist they 
w'ere hammering out for purpo.ses of blood. What 
relation this clerical apologist for the soulh^ ])ears to 
the author of the SorTii'SiDK Vjkw of Slavkhv, 
the writer never took pains to inform hiins('lf, nor does 
he deem it necessary to comment furtln-r on the 
southern proclivities of either. 

Now, these northern visitors at the .-^outh, who t^-stif)' 
that the slaves are not cruelly treat^'(l. derive their 
knoweledge either from the slave-holders and over- 
seers themselves, or from the slaves, or from their own 
observations. If from the slave-hoMers, Ihir testi- 
mony has already been weighed and found wanting; 
if they derive it from the slaves, they ought not to be 
so simple as to suppose that the gnrsts, a.ssodates and 
friends of Oie masUr would be likely to draw from hia 
slaves any other testimony respecting his treatment to 



414 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

them, than such as would please him. The great 
shrewdness and tact exhibited bj slaves in keeping 
themselves out of difficulty^ when closely questioned by 
strangers as to their treatment, cannot fail to strike 
every accurate observer. 

The following remarks of Chief Justice Henderson, 
a North Carolina slave-holder, in his decision, (in 
1880,) in the case of the State versus Charity, (2 Deve- 
reaux's North Carolina Reports, 643,) illustrates the 
folly of arguing the good treatment of slaves from 
their own declarations, while in the power of their masters. 
In the case above cited, the Chief Justice, in refusing 
to permit a master to give in evidence, declarations 
made to him by his slaves, says of masters and slaves 
generally : — 

" The master has an almost absolute control over the 
body and m,ind of his slaves. The master's will is the 
slave's ivill. All his acts, all his sayings, are made 
with a view to propitiate his master. His confessions 
are made, not from a love. of truth, not from a sense of 
duty, not to speak a flilsehood, but to please his master, 
— and it is in vain that his master tells him to speak 
the truth, and conceals from him how he wishes the 
question answered. The slave ivill ascertain, or, which 
is the same thing, think that he has ascertained the 
wishes of his master, and MOULD His ANSWER ACCORD- 
INGLY. We therefore more often get the wishes of the 
master, or the slave's belief of his wishes, than the 
truth." 

Oh, man}^ of these northern tourists tell us they have 
visited scores of families at the south, and never saw a 
master or mistress whip their slaves. Indeed ! Then 
slaves at the south are never whipped, according to 
such testimony. These same men have, doubtless, 
visited hundreds of families north. Did they ever 
see, on such occasions, the father or mother whip their 
children? If so, they must associate with very ill- 
bred persons. Because well-bred parents do not whip 
their children in the presence, or within hearing of 



SLAVERY UNMASKED. 4 If) 

tlieir guosts, are wc honco to infer that tlj»«y uo\or do 
it out of their sight and hearing ? 

It is quite worthy of remark, that of the thousands 
of northern men vvh(j have vi.site»l the stmlli, and an* 
always hiuding the kiiKhiess of slave-hoUU-rH and the 
comfort of the shives, protesting that tlu-y liave never 
seen cruelties inflict hi upon them, &c., kc. Kneh, 
perhaps, without exet'ption, has somtr story to tell 
which reveals, better ])crhaps than the most harharouH 
butchery could do, a i)ublie sentiment toward slave.**, 
showing that the most cruel inllietions mu.'^t of nee4's- 
sity be the constant portion of the .slaves. 

Though facts of this kind lie thick in every corner, 
the reader will, we are sure, tolerate even a nfciih-Mi il- 
lustration, when told that it is fn^m the pen of N. P, 
Rogers, Esq., of Concord, N. II.: — 

"At a court session at Guilford, StalVord eounty, 
N. H., a few. years ago, the lion. Daniel M. I)urell, of 
Dover, formerly Chief Justice of the Common Phw 
for that State, and a member of Congres.*?, was charg- 
ing the Abolitionists, in presence of several gentlemen 
of the bar, at their board ingdiouse, with exaggerations 
and misrepresentations of slave treatment at tlie south, 
'One instance in particular,' he witnessed, he said, 
where he ' knew they niisrepre.sented. It wa.s in the 
Congregational meeting-house at Dover. II«' waspa.s8- 
ing by, and saw^ a croud entering and about the door; 
and, on inquiring, found that abolition wa.^ 'joitoj <m in 
there. He stood in the entry for a moment, and found 
the Englishman, Thompson, was holding forth. The 
fellow was speaking of the treatment of slaves ; and 
he said it was no uncommon thing for masters, when 
exasperated with the slave, to hang him up by the two 
thumbs, and flog him. I knew the f.-Uow lied there,' 
said the Judge, ' for I have traveled through the 8«»uth, 
from Georgia north, and I never saw a .single instance 
of the kind. The fellow said it wa.s a common thing.' 
' Did you see any exasperated ma.sters. Judge,' said I, 
' in your journey ?' ' No sir,' he said, ' not a .•*>litary 



416 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

instance.' ' You are liardl j able to convict Mr. Thomp- 
son of falsehood, then, Judge,' said I 'if I understood 
you rightly. He spoke, as I understood you, of exas- 
perated masters — and you say you did not see any. 
Mr. Thompson did not say it was common for masters 
in good humor to hang up their slaves.' The Judge 
did not perceive the materialit}^ of the distinction. 
' Oh, they misrepresent and lie about this treatment of 
the niggers,' he continued. 'In going through all the 
States I visited, I do not now remember a single in- 
stance of cruel treatment. Indeed, I remember of see- 
ing but one nigger struck, during my whole journey. 
There was one instance. We were riding in the stage, 
pretty early one morning, and we met a black fellow, 
driving a span of horses, and a load (I think he said) 
of hay. The fellow turned out before we got to him, 
clean down into the ditch, as far as he could get. He 
knew, you see, what to depend on, if he did not give 
the road. Our driver, as we passed the fellow, fetched 
him a smart crack with his whip across the chops. 
He did not make any noise, though I guCvSS it hurt him 
somC' — ^he grinned. Oh, no! these fellows exaggerate. 
The niggers, as a general thing, are kindly treated. 
There may be exceptions, but I saw nothing of it.' 
(By the way, the Judge did not know there were any 
Abolitionists present.) ' What did you do to the dri- 
ver, Judge,' said I, 'for striking that man?' 'Do!' 
said he, ' I did nothing to him, to be sure.' ' What 
did you say to him. Sir ?' I inquired. ' Nothing,' he 
replied, ' I said notliing to him.' ' What did the other 
passengers do ?' ' Nothing, Sir,' said the Judge. 
* The fellow turned out the white of his eye, but made 
no noise.' ' Did the driver say anything. Judge, when 
he struck the man ?' ' Nothing, Sir, only he damned 
hmi, and told him he'd learn him to keep out of the 
reach of his whip.' ' Sir,' said I, ' if George Thomp- 
son had told this story, in the warmth of an anti- 
slavery speech, I should scarcely have credited it. I 
have attended many anti-slavery meetings, and I never 



SLAVKUY UXMASKKI). 417 

lieard at instance of such col'l-Unn<lr,l, udn/on, insolrnt, 
DIABOLICAL cruclty as tliis; and, Sir, if I utt«Mi«! an- 
other meeting, I shall relate this, and give Ju.l;^e Dn- 
relTs name as the witness of it.' An infliction of the 
most insolent character, entirely' unprovoked, on a |kt- 
feet stranger, who had showed the uftn«).st civilitv, in 
giving all the road, and coiild oidy gi't h'-yoii'i the 
long reach of the driver's whip — and ho a st^igtvdri- 
ver, a class generous next to the sjiilor — in the .H*)lM'r 
hour of morning, and Ixirne in silence — and (ofd (o show 
that the rolored man of tlie south uHts kinilhf Iraittil — all 
evincing, to an unutterable extent, that the temper of 
the south toward the slave is merciless, even to f//Vi/*>/- 
ism — and that the north regards him with, if jKissible, 
a more fiendish indilferencc still." 



LUIAPTER XV ill. 

SL.WEUV IN' A TRKi: STATK. 

The following was clipped from the New York Tri- 
bune of March 22d, 1856 : — 

As another illustration of the spirit of slavcrv. I 
""send 3'ou the subjoined account of a recent outrage by 
citizens of Virginia upon citizens of Ohio, and that 
too upon Ohio soil. N.ot content with mobbing and 
maltreating our people in their own states when they 
chance to dilfer with Oieir opinions of the institution ot 
slavery, as has frequently been the case, they invatle 
the sacredness of our own soil and dicUite to il^ in 
matters of concience and of speech. The persons en- 
gaged in this outrage should not be chuvsed as " Bord-T 
Ruffians," for they are among the best men of W.-s- 
tern Virginia. The writer of the inclosed, Judg»> 
18* 



418 SLAVERY UNMASKED, 

Salmon Eicard, is to be relied upon entirely, botli as 
respects candor and integrity. 

I ask you what earthly power can prevent the ulti- 
mate dissolution of this Union? Grant everything 
now claimed by the Republican party, and would there 
not be just as much agitation as there now is, so long- 
as slavery has an existence in any part of the Union? 
The ball of disunion is in motion, and what shall stay 
its progress? 

Our people are becoming accustomed to hear the 
severance of the Union discussed, without that thrill 
of horror that once possessed them like an electric 
shock. 

"Quaker Bottom, 0., March 17, 1856. 

" Mr. Editor : For some weeks past, the people of 
this vicinity have been holding meetings to consider 
various matters of public interest, promment among 
which were the moral character of " negro-catching," 
the rights and privileges that should be enjoyed by 
our colored population, and the condition and needs of 
the people of Kansas. 

"These meetings have been attended by persons 
holding very diverse views on the different topics dis- 
cussed," but the object was free discussion, and all who 
felt disposed were invited to participate. 

" On last Friday evening, at the close of one of 
these meetings, when most of our people had dispersed, - 
we were assailed by a band of men from Virginia, 
armed with clubs. We were not suspecting such an 
attack, and were entirely unprepared for it. One of 
our men, A. S. Proctor, was assailed by a man, first 
with a club and then with an axe, swearing he meant 

to kill him ; others shouted, " kill him ! God d n 

him, kill him !" and when upon the ground, struggling 
with his adversary, he was struck over the head with 
a rail, and doubtless would have been killed had he 
not been saved by his friends. Henry Radford re- 
ceived a blow upon the forehead from a rock cutting 



SLAVKHV I KM ASKED. 419 

it very severely. IMic Ucv. Mr. A<latns rcc-civt-d a 
severe blow, iiijuriii<r him coii.sidorably. A young 
man, Nathaniel Hall, wa? kmx'ko<l clown two or three 
times ; others received blows. I myself wjis .struck 
upon the head with a club, prostrat'ing nu- u|.(.n the 
earth, injuring my head eonsidrrably, from whi.-h I 
am now sufTering. Although infericjr in jK.int of num- 
bers and without weapons, we sueee.Ml.-d in drfniding 
ourselves so that no one was kilK'd, tjiough the nu»st 
liond-like eftbrts were make, the most horricl threatii 
and imprecations uttered, and yells that were heard at 
a long distance. 

" During the affray the mob were hailrd from the 
other side to know if they wanted luMj), thus showing; 
that it was a preconcerted thing. 

" They dared us to hold another meeting, saying 
they would come over in numbers suiricient to wjjip 
the whole of us. And I am informetl. that they now 
say that if men enough cannot be rai.sed in (iuyan- 
dotte they can be procured from the country, and that 
we must be put down. 

"Now, why this outrage? What is ouroftVnee? 
Why, we liave dared to claim and to exerci.se the right 
to be free men — to meet and discnss our own inatterH 
in our own way. This is our constitutional right, our 
common birthright, which if it be striekeji down with 
impunity now, no man is safe. Some of our speakers 
have touched upon topics not pleasing to the slave 
power, hence the glaring outrage already committed 
and others threatened. Not satisfied with gagging its 
own people upon the subject of slavery, rendering 
them but half free ^ it seeks to impose the same gags 
upon us, to be enforced by mob violence, and if ne«i 
be by murder, 

"Is Ohio a free state? Is this a Chri.stian country? 
Do we live among a brave and free people, and vet 
run such fearful hazards to exercise the rights of free 
men ? 

" On Friday, the 28th inst., at 3 o'clock p. ra., there 



420 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

will be another meeting at this place, to consider ' our 
political relations, and what is our duty in view of 
past, present and probable future events.' We mean 
to vindicate the right of free discussion, which none 
but bad men and tyrants dread, or will attempt to 
abridge. Truth never fears investigation, never shuns 
the light — while error loves darkness and relies upon 
brute force. 

" While we sl\ali trample upon no man's rights, we 
shall maintain our own or die in the attempt. 

"The names of the parties, so far as I have learned 
them, who were engaged in perpetrating the outrage, 
are Thos. Buffington, Wm. Buffington, Henry Mil- 
stead, L. Peters, Isaac Ong, Joseph Gardner, besides 
many .others I do not know. 

" Mr. Editor, by giving this an insertion in your 
paper you will greatly oblige 

" Your friend and fellow-citizen, 

" SALMON RICARD." 



CHAPTER XIX. 

KANSAS — ITS INVASION — AND LAST CHAPTER OF HER 
WRONGS. 

Numerous highway robberies have been committed 
by the "Law and Order" men from Platte county, 
under the pretext of military commands. From Judge 
Wakefield's farm, five miles from Lawrence, they took 
five hundred bushels of corn. The red men have suffered 
both in stock, produce and timber. From Dr. Cutter, 
of Doniphan, they took his pistol and purse. From Mr. 
G. F. Warren they took a gun, shot-pouch, powder- 
flask, knife, and all his private papers. Mr. Garvey, 



SI,A\ Kin I NM A>kKl>. 121 

of Topcka, was reliovc<l of suikIiv artiol ir- 

rested. Two of Sliarpr's rifles ami two i re 

stolen from a couple of ^a'ntlcinfn wlunu tlu'y airoHtcd 
en ^-ow/t' to Lawrence. 1 might ciunncral«Miny number 
of similar robberies, but it is uimcxx-.ssjiry to do ho. 
The instances adtbiccd are sullicicnt to show the char- 
acter of the majority of the " Law and Onli-r" f«)rco«. 
They bought a large (luaiitity orj)ro<luce, and paid for 
it in orders on Gor. S/Kinimn. The (jovt-nior s;iid at 
Lawrence that he would not honor these draH.s, and 
tlicre is an article in the treaty of j)eaee which <lcclarcj4 
that on no account whatever would he make us<j of the 
forces now or that might hereafter be iti the Territory 
from other States. 

A twelve-pound howitzer was sent from New York 
to Lawrence. When the war broke out, it was at 
Kansas City, and an inva<lingVamp between the two 
Dlaces. llow to get it to Jjawrence was the cpiestion 
of the day. The Messrs. ButVum volunteered to bring 
it up. They went to Kansas City, and got the lx>xc« 
in which it was packed. As they were a-sccnding a 
hill, a posse of forty invaders came down uiK)n them, 
and said they must examine the boxes, as they believc<i 
them to contain Shaipe's rifles. 

"Oh, no, boys!" said Bufi'um; " it's part of a car- 
riage. Here, hand me an axe, and ril show you a 
wh°el." 

He took an axe, and split open part of the box in 
which one of the wheels of the cannon was packed. 
This ru.se succeeded. 

"What's the rea.son your horses draw so heavy?" 
asked another of the posse. 

" Oh," said Buffum, " thev're tired ; won't you give 
us a shove up the hill, boysi"' 

Several of the invaders put their " sho>ilders to the 
wheels," and assisted the horses in iuseending with their 

load. 

A vote of thanks was proposed at the ma.ss meetmg 
held at Lawrence on Monday iiight, to these aasiatauta, 



422 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

but as their names were unknown, a request was made 
that all newspapers favorable to freedom in Kansas 
would publish the circumstance, and thank them in 
the name of the people of " Yankeetown." 

The free State ladies of Lawrence deserve to be the 
mothers of heroes. Their conduct during the recent 
alarming crisis was as admirable as the calm courage 
of the men. Fear never entered the breasts of either, 
and neither were disposed to yield one iota to the inso- 
lent demands of " old Dave" Atchinson's rabble. The 
wives and daughters of the free State men refused, 
though repeatedly urged, to leave the city. Foi^ty la- 
dies of Lawrence enrolled themselves secredy, ivith the deter- 
raination of fighting hy die sides of their husbands and sons 
as soon as the combat commenced! Many of them had 
previously practiced pistol shooting, for the purpose of 
giving the invaders a suitable reception if they came 
again, as they came on the 30th of March, to desecrate 
the ballot-box, and prevent the actual residents of 
Kansas from casting their votes. One young girl — a 
beauty of nineteen years — told me that she dreamed 
last nio-ht of shooting three invaders. 

Let me give one instance of the courage of the ladies 
of Lawrence : — 

The Greneral feared that he would run short of pow- 
der, lead and percussion caps. A free State man on 
the Waulvarusa had two kegs of powder and a large 
quantity of Sharpe's rifle cartridges. If men had been 
sent after it, they would have been obliged to fight, or 
been arrested. The thing was talked about. Two 
ladies, editor's wives, both of them — Mrs. G. W. Brown 
and Mrs. Samuel N. Wood — volunteered to go and 
fetch it. They were permitted to go. They reached 
the cabin; the powder was put in pillow cases; and 
" people do say," — but they will talk nonsense you 
know,— that the pillow cases were concealed beneath 
petticoats, and that said petticoats were attached to 
other garments feminine of said ladies aforesaid. It is 
rumored, too, that the percussion caps were concealed 



SL.VVEKY UNMASKED. -123 

in tlio ladies' stockin,^'s. I don't prctond to vouch for 
the truth of tins rumor, for 1 was not present wlien the 
ladies made their toilet. One gentleman, who sjiw the 
la lies lifted out of the wagon — for tliey could not rLtc 
themselves — said that he tliought l)ustles had come into 
fashion again 1 

The ladies, on returning home, were pursuecl by one 
of the enemy's scouts. On coming up to them, he jh> 
litely lifted his hat and said, "Ladies, I tht)Ught you 
were gentlemen." 

" Thank you for the comj)linient,'' .siid one of the 
ladies, smiling. 

The scout looked into the wagon, and s;iw only a 
work-basket, which had purpo.sely been liiUd with 
sewing materials. 

" We were ordered," he sai<l, " to arrest nil gentle- 
men, but I sup{>ose you can go." 

So saying, he galloped off. 

The powder and ladies reached Lawrence safely. 
At the mass meeting on Monday night, si.K lou<l and 
long protracted cheei-s were given for these gallant 
ladies. 

I am informed by a gentleman who was present at 
the time, that Col. A. G. Boone, of the camp of the in- 
vaders, said to Col. Lane, when on the hill overlooking 
Lawrence, "Colonel, I am instructed to demand your 
rifles. I do so now." 

Col. Lane, pointing to the city, said: — "Col. Boone, 
you see those men at work in the trenches. Not one 
of them, if he had ten thousand lives, but would freely 
sacrifice them all, rather than deliver a single gun.'^' 

I call that reply emphatic language, rather! Em- 
phatic as it was, it was not more emi>hatie than the de- 
termination of the people of Lawrence. 

Gov. Robinson was a.sked some days before, what he 
would do if such a demand should be made. " Why," 
said the General, " I would projiosc another Mi.ssouri 
Compromise. We would be willing to keep the nflcs, 
and give the invaders their contents!" 



424 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

When tlie subject was hinted at by "' the enemy," 
the.General quietly said — " Well, you'll have to take 
them by instalments !" 

Passing through Franklin, I observed that there 
was now no regular camp in the village, but there 
were some fifty or sixty idlers from the camp below, 
drinking and loafing around the place for lack of 
something better, or worse, to do. They watched me 
more closely as I passed than usual, but did not mo- 
lest me. Immediately below Franklin, the upland 
prairie breaks, and a broad, flat bottom, covered with 
a very luxuriant grass, stretches between the slope and 
the timber that skirts the Waukarusa. As I descended 
the slope, I saw a horseman before me. Numerous 
other parties were galloping across the plain in every 
direction, but he was traveling alone, and at a moderate 
pace. I overtook and saluted him. He was mounted 
on a powerful gray horse, had a long rifle thrown 
across the saddle before him, and a couple of pistol 
holsters. In appearance he was a cross of the gentle- 
man and "Border Kuffian;" only a slightly sinister 
expression gave the latter the preponderance. He 
was a strongly-built man, and well equipped for travel. 
It was Marshal Jones. 

It is not surprising that the conversation immedi- 
ately turned upon the events that were occurring. He 
spoke with a good deal of vindictive feeling, and when 
I urged the danger of precipitating hostilities, and told 
him that it was a question of immense moment to the 
whole country, and might even jeopardize the safety 
of the Union — 

"D — ^n the Union," he said. "We have gone in 
for peace long enough. We have got to fight some 
time or other, and may as well do it now._ We. have 
got tlie law and the authorities on oar side, and we 
will take that town. 

"But consider,' I urged, ' it will not end here. Even 
granting you can defeat the men in Lawrence, they 
have friends elsewhere who may resent it. If the 



SLAVERY UNMASK KU. 425 

Missourians are killed, their relativ<'fl will Sfck to 
avenge thorn, and so with tlu- oilicrs. Civil war in a 
fearful thing, and, wlu'n the flame In'gins, noin* can 
know where it will end. I do not like to see Ameri- 
cans fighting with each other. 

"Look, stranger," said he, " you siicak t<K) freely. 
I know it may all end that way: nut it has pit to 
come. Look at these outrages ; houses Ituriit an<i 
projiiM'ty destroyed ; the laws set at defiance, and men 
wdio were arrested f(^r crime t;\ken from tin* t ffiee of 
justice.'' 

"And yet,"' 1 answi-rcd, "there is no more onieriy, 
law-abiding people than tho.se of Lawrence. I have 
been there, and nave heard the .statements of all the 
transactions made by parties eognizant <»f them, and 
all deny that the people of Lawrence or the Fn-e Slate 
people of the Territory eommittecl those outrage.**, or 
connived at them ; they eertaiidy deprec^ite them. 
And so far as the rescue was concerned, it was made 
under very peculiar circumstanc(>s, that woulil in nil 
probability justify the measure before any court of law. 
At all events, if there are guilty parties, let the arm of 
the law .settle it — let the guilty be jMinishcd, but do 
not let the innoci,'nt suffer with them." 

" Are you not in favor of enlbrcing the law? Are 
you not a law and order loving man ? They have re- 
sisted the laws, and there must be force to compel 
them." 

■' I am a law and order, Union-loving man I liope ; 
but not to the extent of enforcing the laws in dispute. 

Whv not leave it to Congress, :is thev arc alwut to 
assemble? Common law and the United States atithor- 
ity, the people of Lawrence will never resi.st, nor will- 
ingly resist the laws of even that I.<\gislature, by furec." 

"it's no use talking: these laws have got to be en- 
forced, and wc have got to fight. We have seven 
hundred men in the camp down there, (a falftchood, 
by-the-by,) there is a large reinforcement comiiig on, 
that will arrive to-night or to-morrow, and the Platte 



426 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

County people will be here. All of these troops, Sir, 
are enrolled and accepted by the Governor. They 

are here to enforce the laws, and by G d they'll do 

it. We have got the law with us, and all this matter 
has been arranged by long heads who know what they 
are about. We shall insist that the people of Law- 
rence give up these fifteen men to us, and also that they 
give up their Sharpe's rifles and other arms, and we 
will destroj^ the big hotel." 

" But you cannot expect compliance with those re- 
quisitions. Those men are not in Lawrence. The 
guns they will not give up, especially when they are 
menaced." 

" Well, d n them, we'll make them." 

" Well, I cannot hope and pray for 3^our success." 
"What!" and his eyes lighted up more fiercely, 
" do you mean that you will hope and pray for the 
other side?" and as he spoke, he lifted his rifle a little 
on his arm : it might have been merely for a change 
of position — it might have been a menace. I, merely 
by chance, loosed the lower button of my overcoat, 
inside of which were my revolvers, and changing the 
subject, I pointed to the plain we were traversing, and 
said : — 

" This is a very rich bottom — it would make a fine 
meadow, or would it not suit for the production of 
hemp ? I am not much acquainted with its culture." 
He did not respond to my remarks, very cheerfully, 
but understood me. I had told him I was an Illinois- 
ian, and an editor, and travelling over the country. 
He cautioned me as a friend against speaking so freely 
when I went below, as there were many fellows who 
would trouble me. I. thanked him. As we approach- 
ed the camp, he said he was going there, but as I could 
not, he would see me over the creek. There was a 
guard there; I asked why, and the necessity of placing 
restri^'tions on travelers. He said they were acting 
under the Governor's orders, that they could let no 
one pass without examining him, and that he would 



SLAVERY UN MASK KI). 427 

go to the fort with im*, ami see me over. A« we njv 
proached it, I obscrviil some half a dozen aniitMl im-n 
rummaging and seaivhiiig a couple oi' wag<ni.s loaded 
with incix-Iiandize, and Siiw them slop aiul liike the 
arms from a foot passenger. The Ixvi of the Wuukft- 
rusa is nearly dry at the ford, and very wide. At the 
opposite side from Lawrence, the n)ad goi-s through a 
narrow cut in the hank, and here the s^-ntrie.s were 
posted, arme(l with long rifles and revolvers. A."* I 
had no intention of giving up my arm.s, an<l sjiw that 
was part ol the ceremony, I merely wailed until JoncA 
said : 

" This man is traveling — going down below — let 
him go through." 

I was riding on, when the person in charge of the 
guard said : 

"Stop, we must examine you; our orders arc jxwi- 
tive — come back, Sir." 

I did not return, but reined up my pony, an<l looked 
round at him. They approached me, and two of ihc 
ciit-throat-looking villains were just about to put their 
hands on ray overcoat to feel for arms, when not ap- 
proving of such familiarity, I struck my })ony with my 
heel, and trotted out irom them. 

"Stop! stop!'' cried the sentrv in command, ad- 
vancing toward me, and pointing his revolver ; "stop! 
stop!" cried the other sentries, lowering their rifles, 
and I saw the sun-light gleam on the long l)arrels ad 
they were brought down. " Stop ! for God's sake, 
stop !" cried Jones, riding up, and I halted. 

" You must give up your arms !" 

" I am traveling — I may need them — I do not want 
to lose mv property." 

" I will guarant '6 its safetv," said Jones. 

I had an excellent six-sh(X)ter in njy Iwlt, and a 
small four-barreled French revolver in my ptx-ket. I 
took out the latter, and handed it to Jones, saying I 
should hold him responsible for it. 



428 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

"You must go back to camp," was the next de- 
mand. 

Not knowing but that there might be some persons 
there who would know my connection with The Tri- 
hune^ I demurred to the proposal, not considering it 
exactly a wholesome atmosphere for such characters, 
especially as I was to be taken back to undergo an 
examination. They were as imperative in this de- 
mand as the other. My first determination was to re- 
sist it, but reflecting that this would be the only chance 
to go into camp now, I turned my horse around, trot- 
ted across the creek again, and rode down into camp, 
Jones by vnj side, and an ill-favored looking scoun- 
drel behind us. 

A crowd gathered around us. The captain of the 
guard was sent for, and some of the fellows comment- 
ed on my presence, and the fact of my having been 
there often enough before. I also learned that they 
had a man confined in the camp, and concluded from 
their remarks that my chance of keeping hnn com- 
pany was very fair. However, after some detention, 
I succeeded in getting away, Jones returned me my 
little French revolver, and another escort seeing me 
over the creek. Even then the sentries were very un- 
willing I should pass, and were for again questioning 
me, but I rode on. 

Indignant at the detention, and having been told by 
the guards, when I demanded their authority, that 
they were acting under the orders of Governor Shan- 
non, I determined to go down to the Mission, and 
complain. Besides, I had another motive. I knew 
the Governor had been a good deal in the hands of 
the pro-slavery men, and that he was weak and vacil- 
lating ; I intended to make a true representation of the 
facts to him, and urge him to defer the enforcement of 
the few obnoxious laws until Congress met — or, if he 
must enforce them, to do it by officers really belong- 
ing to the Territory, or by the United States Courts. 



SLAVKKY UNMASKKI). 429 

Night set in when I woh still wv-ral uxWch from the 
Mission. Arrived tjiere, weary un.l travl worn, 1 
I learned that the Governor was in \Vest|H)rt. I rode 
on to Westport, which is some Ibiir u\\\i'n <lirtUint 
Not knowing where th(; Governor Htaynl, I wmt to 
several places, I took for hotels, and" in<pnr.-d, Iml 
when at last I found where he had h.vn, I leannxl 
that he had started to the Mission ; so I despuin-d of 
seeing him that night. 

I was ignorant that in the earlier part of the same 
evening Gen. Pomerov, agent of the Kmigranl Aid 
Society, had been attacked hy a party of .some .^ix 
or s-ven in-n between Kansas ami vVeslport, lie had 
driven in from Osoawatloinie that day, having a fino 
pair of honses in a light carriage. They stopped him 
about 7 o'clock in the evening, and want^-d to make 
him prisoner. He refused to go. They threatened to 
shoot, whereupon he drew his revolver and sjiid — 
"Oh, I'm used to that; I was brought up to it; it's 
a game I can play at too." " Don't shoot — oh, don't 
shoot, General," one of them cried, wiien he said, 
" Good night, gentlemen," put the whij) to his horses, 
and drove on to Kansas. Chafed and enraged, they 
returned to Westport, with ttie intention of raising a 
company of fifty men, going down to the American 
hotel, in Kansas city, and taking out I\)merov, and 
lynchinghim. Theydid notsucceed in fiiiding<iurt«-that 
number willing to leave their liquor, bulraiM(l a band. 
So, as good or ill luck would have it. they were on the 
qui vive about the time T left Westport. It was then 
between 10 and 11 o'clock; my horse w.xs tired, but I 
was anxious to go thither and send a telegraj)hic dis- 
patch, not being aware that the wires wen; down. 

I had traveled about halfway to Kansa.", when, 
having occasion to cross a small .stream, I mountea 
my pony, and almost immediately heard hors -s gal- 
loping behind. I rode on at the same steady gait 
(about a mile an hour,) and in a f w minut«s a couple 
of horsemen dashed up to me, and dividing, passed 



430 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 

one on either side, reining in their horses about eight 
yards ahead. They whispered together, and I saw 
one of them pass something, which I took for a pistol 
in the dark, and tlien they dropped back alongside of 
me. I heard the rest of the party coming up behind. 

" Did you see a mf.n going along the road ?" asked 
one of them. " No." 

" Well, there was a man rode down this way, and 
if you have not seen him, we will hold you respon- 
sible." 

" That is rather singular." 

" You must go back with us." 

" I believe not — my horse is tired, and I am going 
on to Kansas." 

" That is nothing ; we arrest you." 

"Have you a warrant? has any crime been com- 
mitted ? or what do you want me for ? Has any one 
been stealing a horse." 

" No, not for that," said one of them. 

" Well, I allow no man to take me without a 
warrant." 

" We have authority for what we do." 

" What is your authority ?" 

" The Governor." 

" What Governor ?" 

" Governor Shannon." 

" You forget, gentlemen, that we are in Missiouri." 

This seemed rather to nonplus them, but they con- 
tinued : 

" You must go back." 

" I will not." 

" We will take you." 

" Very good." 

Here the party came to a halt. My horse was so 
tired that he stopped too, and would not budge, and 
there I was in the midst of these scoundrels. As 
they were fingering their weapons, I also laid my hand 
on mine ; but I was very loth to shoot, for I knew 
that the chance of getting justice in a court in western 



SLAVERY UNMASKKl). 431 

• 

Missouri against a IkukI of tlic Hccret ortlcr of the 
Lone Star was (Itspnati'. 'i'licy l(X)ki'tl nt nu-, uii«l I 
looked at tlieni, and there was one of thos*.- distrrKsiiig 
pauses whieli are lialtle to oeeur whm some one of a 
dozen men is cxpeeted to do soim-tliin;;, v«'t no one 
feels exaetly like assuming the responsiljilit}*. Tliry 
then undertook to persuade me to go hack, hut di<l 
not succeed. 

"Do you know General I'onu'roy ?" jusketl one. 

"No, not personally ; 1 liave heard of him." 

" Are you not carrying dispat<'hes from Lawrence 
to him ?" 

"No," Ire})lied; " 1 am travehng on the highway 
on my own business, and do not want to bo niole,«<ted.^* 

Finding that I would not go back, they urged inc 
to withdraw to a house not far oft', and wait until tljc 
rest of their com|)any came up, when, they .said, we 
would all go to Kansas together, ami if I was Ibund 
" all riglit,'' I could go my way. Fearing that the 
scoundrels would ibreibly seize me, and thai tin- alVair 
would end in bloodshed, ami having a j)romi.se, on 
their honor, that 1 should not be molested in the 1h)ILSc 
to which we were goiu";, I went with them. The ex- 

f)ected reinforcement did not come up, however. I 
earned subsequently that their intention was to go to 
the American hotel, and take out Fomeroy, and lynch 
him; but as they iuxd expected lifty men to take a 
hand in it, and as they were only aljout tiAeen, they 
did not attempt it. As I stood in i'ront of the lire 
warming myself, and wondering what tliey were going 
to do with me, I heard them talk freely about what 
they had already been doing, and intemled to do. 
They spoke of the capture of Judge Johnson with 
much glee, and were unanimous in deciding that he 
must be lynched before he got away from them. (I 
have been haj)py to learn, however, since I returne<l 
to Lawrence, that he has escai)cd from them without 
injury.) They also spoke of lynching Pomeroy, and 
expressed a fear that he would get out of the Tewitory 



432 SLAVERY UNMASKED. 



"n 



before tliej could catcli him. The majority were for 
hanging him at once, but one more conservative than 
the rest said he "did not approve of that sort of thing." 
He thought he ought to be only tarred and feathered, 
after a good beating, and set adrift on the river. 
Another offered an amendment to this proposition by 
suggesting that he should be rubbed with oil and care- 
,fully blackened, so that the color would not come off, 
and then be set adrift on the river. These moderate 
sentiments appeared to be overrulad — the majority de- 
claring that he must be hung. They also determined 
that the American hotel should be torn down. 

But I cannot detail all the incidents of that eventful 
night. They bitterly assailed everything they hated, 
and they hated everything that was opposed to slavery 
extension. Among the rest, tliey included The Tribune 
in their maledictions — little thinking of the bird they 
had caught. I was subjected to the indignity of an 
examination for dispatches, which I was supposed to 
have, and had only the remedy (which I was not 
inclined to applv) of shooting one of these lawless 
scoundrels through the head. The search was insti- 
tuted with some degree of courtesy, and only by two 
of them, who invited me into another room for the 
purpose. One of these, a leader among them, was a 
brother Odd Fellow, whom I had recognized and ap- 
pealed to, and who assured me that this was the only- 
way to save me from being seized and violently searched 
by the whole crowd. The search was somewhat super- 
ficial, and conducted with apologies, but sufficient even 
then to make me burn with anger, and feel a hearty 
contempt for the public sentiment and the officers of 
the law in western Missouri, who know the existence 
of these things, and yet tolerate them. I was de- 
tained until late next morning, and would not then 
have escaped from them so easily but for the interposi- 
tion of the brctlier who had interested himself on my 
behalf; and yet they had found nothing about me that 
justified the detention, even by their own showing. 



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